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True south is the direction opposite to the true north. It is important to make the distinction from magnetic north, which points towards an ever changing location close to the True North Pole determined Earth's magnetic field. Due to fundamental limitations in map projection, true north also differs from the grid north which is marked by the ...
True north is the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole. Somewhat more formally, Bowditch defines variation as "the angle between the magnetic and geographic meridians at any place, expressed in degrees and minutes east or west to indicate the direction of magnetic north from true north. The angle between magnetic and ...
It is used to determine the orientation of true north. It is the main instrument for orientation in mine surveying [1] and in tunnel engineering, where astronomical star sights are not visible and GPS does not work.
If the reference direction is north (either true north, magnetic north, or grid north), the bearing is termed an absolute bearing. In a contemporary land navigation context, true, magnetic, and grid bearings are always measured in this way, with true north, magnetic north, or grid north being 0° in a 360-degree system. [5]
The local angular difference between magnetic north and true north is called the magnetic declination. Most map coordinate systems are based on true north, and magnetic declination is often shown on map legends so that the direction of true north can be determined from north as indicated by a compass. [28]
The gyrotheodolite comprises a normal theodolite with an attachment that contains a gyrocompass, a device which senses the rotation of the Earth in order to find true north and thus, in conjunction with the direction of gravity, the plane of the meridian. The meridian is the plane that contains both the axis of the Earth's rotation and the ...
The star is the point of interest, the reference plane is the local area (e.g. a circular area with a 5 km radius at sea level) around an observer on Earth's surface, and the reference vector points to true north. The azimuth is the angle between the north vector and the star's vector on the horizontal plane. [2]
1 - True North 2 - Heading, the direction the vessel is "pointing towards" 3 - Magnetic north, which differs from true north by the magnetic variation. 4 - Compass north, including a two-part error; the magnetic variation (6) and the ship's own magnetic field (5) 5 - Magnetic deviation, caused by vessel's magnetic field.