GPS or other items restricted in some countries?
 

I was reading some tour blogs on CrazyGuyOnABike.com and one of them mentioned being asked by border security crossing into Iran if he was carrying a GPS. He had his stashed at the bottom of his bag and said no and took a chance and got away with it. So, with that in mind, I'm curious to hear of others have had anything similar happen with GPS or anything else that is prohibited in some countries. For someone doing a RTW tour (not me, of course, but I am curious), this seems like it might be important if true...

While I havent crossed a land border into China, gps is no problem, and easily available in stores.

But I am interested in this, I am hoping to arrive in Iran across a land border in about 2 years.

z

You will not be allowed to bring your GPS into Cuba. The customs officials there will check everything and yes, if you try to sneak one in, chances are good they will find it.

When in doubt , Mail it Home..

Cuba is hard core. No DVD players, no GPS, they have a ton of rules about electronics.

In Chile you cannot bring produce of any kind, including nuts. They will confiscate it and fine you.

There's an agriculture inspection stations on the California borders , highways.
just none in POE Long Beach or Oakland,
where the pests are introduced by unloading Container ships .

That's probably how they import electronics into Cuba... :notamused:

I think you would be crazy and risking your life to take a GPS into a location that does not allow them.

Typical cheap GPS units have great horizontal positioning ability and so/so altitude values but a good GPS with barometric altimeter and you can still get pretty good at elevation and possibly have coordinates to direct a rocket to a target. I could see some real repercussions for having that kind of tool in a hostile country.

GPS signals were scrambled by the govertnment and randomly inaccurate until 2000 and I am kind of surprised they did not start scrambling again after 911 but now we take them for granted and so much of our infrastructure depends on its use.......that I doubt we would ever go back there.

Yea Maritime navigation uses GPS , a computer program will display where you are on a Map , a point on that map
in the channel on the river .
to the extent they shut down Loran transmitters, which used radio signals to triangulate location.

now there are several countrys who have launched GPS satellites , so like the Bomb,
its no longer an exclusive club.

No porn in China. You'll be fine as long as you don't dig out a magazine while reaching for your passport. Though I did find a porn DVD on a Chinese highway in the middle of nowhere. It worked too!

Certain foods are often restricted between borders as a way of controlling the spread of disease and pests.

Plant and plant materials are often restricted.

Weaponry of various and sundry sorts are not allowed in many countries.

It is a good idea to look up the immigration websites of the countries you are thinking of visiting to see what they do and don't allow.

Here are some useful resources:
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/preparation_...n/menu-eng.asp
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/publications/bon-voyage-eng.asp
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/menu-eng.asp
http://www.intercultures.ca/cil-cai/...uspays-eng.asp
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4224.asp
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re...Travellers.pdf

Here is Australia's immigration website, for example. From here you find information for a visitor's visa, which you would need to enter Australia.
http://www.immi.gov.au/

And here is where you'd find what you cannot bring into Australia.
http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/e...alia/cant-take

Here are the Australian government customs pages with regard to weapons and other imports.
Weapons - http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4372.asp
Other imports - http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4369.asp


If you do your research before you go, you'll know the answer to your question. Oh, and when you look up sites, make sure they are government sites and not just some tourist site. The government site will have the most up-to-date, accurate information.