  The Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) is a new generation device which, thanks to its
50 um pixels, is capable of imaging the photoelectrons tracks produced by
photoelectric absorption in a gas. Since the direction of emission of the
photoelectrons is strongly correlated with the direction of polarization of the
absorbed photons, this device has been proposed as a polarimeter for the study
of astrophysical sources, with a sensitivity far higher than the instruments
flown to date. The GPD has been always regarded as a focal plane instrument and
then it has been proposed to be included on the next generation space-borne
missions together with a grazing incidence optics. Instead in this paper we
explore the feasibility of a new kind of application of the GPD and of the
photoelectric polarimeters in general, i.e. an instrument with a large field of
view. By means of an analytical treatment and measurements, we verify if it is
possible to preserve the sensitivity to the polarization for inclined beams,
opening the way for the measurement of X-ray polarization for transient
astrophysical sources. While severe systematic effects arise for inclination
greater than about 20 degrees, methods and algorithms to control them are
discussed.
