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Direction determination refers to the ways in which a cardinal direction or compass point can be determined in navigation and wayfinding. The most direct method is using a compass ( magnetic compass or gyrocompass ), but indirect methods exist, based on the Sun path (unaided or by using a watch or sundial ), the stars, and satellite navigation .
While the ADF shows relative angle of the transmitter with respect to the aircraft, an RMI display incorporates a compass card, actuated by the aircraft's compass system, and permits the operator to read the magnetic bearing to or from the transmitting station, without resorting to arithmetic. Most RMI's incorporate two direction needles.
The simplest and most common type of hand compass has a horizontal compass rose and an observation device: a pinnule, alidade or viewfinder that allows the user to observe the target and then by "changing view", read the angle formed by the target's direction and the one marked by the compass with respect to the magnetic north.
In the image at the right, the bezel's N has been aligned with the direction indicated by the magnetic end of the compass needle, adjusted for local declination (10 degrees west of magnetic north). The direction-of-travel arrow on the baseplate thus reflects a true north heading.
A modern military compass, with included sight device for aligning. A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with magnetic north.
Floating-card compass with prismatic sight (bearing 220° through eyepiece). The marine hand compass, or hand bearing compass|hand-bearing compass as it is termed in nautical use, has been used by small-boat or inshore sailors since at least the 1920s to keep a running course or to record precise bearings to landmarks on shore in order to determine position via the resection technique.
The chariot pre-dated the navigational use of the magnetic compass, and could not detect the direction that was south. Instead it used a kind of directional dead reckoning: at the start of a journey, the pointer was aimed southward by hand, using local knowledge or astronomical observations e.g. of the Pole Star.
A fluxgate inclinometer/compass. The basic fluxgate compass is a simple electromagnetic device that employs two or more small coils of wire around a core of highly permeable magnetic material, to directly sense the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field.