#navigation maps

[ltwilliammowett]

Navigation chart

These are charts that are primarily designed and used for navigation. The chart contains most of the information a navigator needs, including latitude and longitude, topographical features, navigational aids such as lighthouses and indications of reefs and shallows, water depth and warnings. This information makes it possible both to chart a safe course and to check progress during the voyage.

Portolan chart by Jorge de Aguiar (1492), the oldest known signed and dated chart of Portuguese origin (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, USA)

The first nautical charts were produced at the end of the 13th century. The appearance of the magnetic compass 100 years earlier is regarded as the catalyst for the development of nautical charts. Prior to this, sailors had relied on the proximity of a known coastline, the position of celestial bodies or meteorological phenomena such as the monsoon winds in the Indian Ocean. The less predictable winds and weather conditions in the Mediterranean provided the impetus for the development of the first nautical charts. These were plane maps (without taking into account the curvature of the earth), which were regularly crossed by rhumb lines that corresponded to the probable wind direction.

Mercator 1569 world map composite of all 18 sheets, by Gerardus Mercator  (1512–1594)

The plane maps were unsuitable for navigation in the northern and southern latitudes and were replaced in the 17th century by maps in Mercator projection, which depicted the compass directions as straight lines. Projections other than the Mercator projection are also used, especially at very high latitudes.

[mirellabruno]

Micronesian Art Navigation chart.

[zarishjameel]

HONDA CARS Mapmaker's team of rival automakers may expand

HONDA CARS Mapmaker’s team of rival automakers may expand

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