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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.
Magnetic dip causes the compass to dip upward or downward depending on the latitude. Illustration of magnetic dip from Norman's book, The Newe Attractive. Magnetic dip, dip angle, or magnetic inclination is the angle made with the horizontal by Earth's magnetic field lines. This angle varies at different points on Earth's surface.
The azimuth compass still had great value in letting the master of a ship determine how far the magnetic compass varied from true north, so he could set a more accurate course while following a line of constant latitude or using dead reckoning to navigate. In 1795 a British First Rate ship would have up to eight compasses, of which one was an ...
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.
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.
TVMDC,AW is a mnemonic for converting from true heading, to magnetic and compass headings. TVMDC is a mnemonic initialism for true heading, variation, magnetic heading, deviation, compass heading, add westerly. The most common use of the TVMDC method is deriving compass courses during nautical navigation from maps.
32-point compass rose. The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography.A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each separated by 90 degrees, and secondarily divided by four ordinal (intercardinal) directions—northeast, southeast, southwest, and ...
This method is based on the observation that a compass needle does not in general point exactly north. The angle between true north and the direction of the compass needle (magnetic north) is called the magnetic declination or variation, and its value varies from place to place. Several writers proposed that the size of magnetic declination ...