Barometric Altitude

If your device has a barometric pressure sensor, JBalloonNav can display pressure-altitude alongside GPS altitude. Barometric altitude is typically more accurate and responsive than GPS altitude, especially for detecting small altitude changes.

How It Works

The device barometer measures atmospheric pressure. Using the current QNH (sea-level pressure setting), the app converts this pressure to an altitude above mean sea level using the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) model.

The accuracy of barometric altitude depends on having a correct QNH. See QNH Settings for how to set and auto-fetch the QNH value.

Viewing Barometric Altitude

Barometric altitude appears as a status bar field. If it's not visible, long-press a status field and select barometric altitude from the options.

Barometer Availability

Not all Android devices have a barometric sensor. If your device doesn't have one, this feature is not available and only GPS altitude will be shown.

Note

Barometric altitude requires a correct QNH setting to show meaningful values. Without setting the QNH for current conditions, the displayed altitude may be significantly wrong. The default QNH is 1013.25 hPa (ISA standard).