Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Navigational instruments are instruments used by nautical navigators and pilots as tools of their trade. The purpose of navigation is to ascertain the present position and to determine the speed, direction , etc. to arrive at the port or point of destination.
Most commonly used however (especially on merchant ships) is the electromagnetic log, more reliable as there is no mechanism subject to breakdown. In recent years ultrasonic speed sensors have become available. These use two ultrasonic transducers—one forward, one aft—that send ultrasonic pulses through the water flowing past the hull.
Several definitions of portolan chart coexist in the literature. A narrow definition includes only medieval [5] or, at the latest, early modern sea charts (i.e. maps that primarily cover maritime rather than inland regions) that include a network of rhumb lines and do not show any indication of the use of latitude or longitude coordinates. [6]
A navigation system on an oil tanker. Navigation [1] is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. [2] The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, [3] marine navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation. [1]
Translated into English as the Rutter of the Sea in 1528, it was reprinted many times, and remained the pre-eminent rutter used by English sailors for decades. [ 6 ] Another frequently used rutter was the work Portolano by Pietro Coppo , published in Venice in 1528, which included a collection of sea charts and the description of Christopher ...
Navigation that follows a rhumb line — that is, all meridians are cut at the same angle. On a nautical chart following the Mercator projection, a loxodromic is represented by a straight line. This type of navigation is useful for not too long distances, as it allows the course to remain steady, [16] but it does not offer the shortest distance.
A navigational aid (NAVAID), also known as aid to navigation (ATON), is any sort of signal, markers or guidance equipment which aids the traveler in navigation, usually nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids include lighthouses , buoys , fog signals , and day beacons .
Individual charts varied so much in form and interpretation that the individual navigator who made the chart was the only person who could fully interpret and use it. The use of stick charts ended after World War II when new electronic technologies made navigation more accessible and travel among islands by canoe lessened.