Terrestrial Navigation

Module 1
Earth
 Great circle, Small circle, Spherical angle,
Spherical triangle, poles of a great circle
• Great circle: Great circles are circles on a sphere that divide the sphere into two
equal halve
• Any diameter of any great circle coincides with a diameter of the sphere,
and therefore every great circle is concentric with the sphere and shares
the same radius.
• All meridians of longitude are great circles, and the equator is also a great
circle.
• Small circles are circles on a sphere that are not great circles. They are the
intersection of the sphere with a plane not passing through its center.
• All latitudes except the equator are small circles
 Spherical angle Spherical triangle
Spherical angle is an angle formed by the intersection of two great circles of a
sphere.
Spherical triangle is a triangle formed by three arcs of great circles on a sphere.
Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the
metrical relationships between the sides and angles of spherical triangles,
traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. Spherical trigonometry is
of great importance for calculations in navigation.
 Poles of a great circle

• Every great circle has two poles, which are defined as the points that are 90°
away from the circle on the surface of the sphere, or the points where the
perpendicular to the plane of the great circle cuts the surface of the sphere.
These two definitions are equivalent.
• Any line that goes through both the North and South Poles must be a great
circle
 Earth poles, Equator and Meridians.
• Geographical poles of the earth are those points at which the axis of the
earth's rotation cuts the earth's surface.

• The equator is a circle of latitude that divides the Earth into the northern and
southern hemispheres.
• On Earth, it is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about 40,075 km
(24,901 mi) in circumference, halfway between the North and South poles.
• Meridian: Imaginary north–south line on the Earth’s surface that connects both
geographic poles; it is used to indicate longitude.
• The prime meridian is zero degrees longitude and divides Earth into the Western
and Eastern hemispheres.
• It is also known as the Greenwich Meridian because it passes through
Greenwich, a borough of London, and terminates at the North and South poles.
• The meridian is also a key element in timekeeping, as in the 12-hour clock.
• The polar circumference of Earth is about 40,008 km (24,860 miles). Earth's polar
radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km).
• the equatorial circumference of Earth is about 24,901 miles (40,075 km).
 Latitude and longitude
Latitude and longitude are two types of geographic coordinates that specify the
position of any place on Earth.
Latitude measures the distance north or south of the equator, while longitude
measures the distance east or west of the prime meridian.
Latitudes are horizontal lines, also called parallels, while longitudes are vertical
lines, also called meridians.
Latitudes vary in length, but longitudes are all the same length.
Latitudes are used to classify heat zones, while longitudes are used to classify time
zones.
 Earth as an ellipsoid
• The Earth is not a perfect sphere, but is instead more like a slightly squashed
sphere called an ellipsoid. It is squashed down from top to bottom, and bulged
out from side to side. This is because the centrifugal force during rotation causes
the Earth to bulge out at the equator. Geographers model Earth shape as an
ellipsoid, which is a sphere slightly flattened at the poles. The specific
measurements used to model Earth are known as the earth ellipsoid.
• The ratio of the difference between the equatorial and polar radii to the
equatorial radius. Its value is approximately ¼97—the difference between the
equatorial and polar diameter is about 27 miles.
 compression of the earth
• The ratio of the difference between the equatorial and polar radii to the
equatorial radius. Its value is approximately 1 / 297 —the difference between
the equatorial and polar diameter is about 27 miles.
 Nautical Mile
• What is Nautical Mile?
• A nautical mile, a unit of measurement defined as 1,852 metres or 1.852
kilometres, is based on the earth’s circumference and is equal to one minute
of latitude.
• A mile on land equals 5280 feet, while a nautical mile equals the one-sixtieth
degree of latitude. It varies from 6046 feet on the Equator to 6092 feet at a
latitude of 60°. This difference occurs as the earth is not a perfect sphere but
an oblate spheroid.
• If one is to pick a part of the earth after cutting the planet in half at the
equator and consider the equator as a circle, it can be divided into 360
degrees.
• Then, one degree can be split into 60 minutes, of which one minute of arc on
Earth is one nautical mile.
• One nautical mile is slightly more than a statute mile
• (1 nautical mile = 1.1508 statute miles).
• The nautical mile corresponds approximately to one minute of arc of latitude
along any meridian. The First International Extraordinary Hydrographic
Conference, Monaco (1929) defined the international nautical mile as exactly
1852 meters. The Soviet Union accepted this definition in 1931, the United
States in 1959, and United Kingdom in 1970.
• The international nautical mile consists of 10 cables (1 cable=185.2 meters ).

So 1 Cable Length = One-tenth of a nautical mile, about 101 fathoms or 608

feet or 185.3184 meters.
 Knot
• What is Knot?
• Then comes the knot. Of course, we are not talking about sailing knots, such as
Figure-8 Knot. A nautical knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per
hour (1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour) or approximately 1.15078 mph.