CONCEPT OF EARTH IN NAVIGATION

Navigation is based upon the assumption that the earth is a sphere and, consequently, on the laws of
spherical trigonometry. In reality, the shape of the earth is rather irregular and approximates an oblate
spheroid (which means it is a sphere which is slightly flattened at the poles and slightly bulged at the equator),
resulting from two forces, gravitation and centrifugal force, acting on the viscous body of the earth. While
gravitation alone would force the earth to assume the shape of a sphere, the state of lowest potential energy,
the centrifugal force caused by the earth's rotation contracts the earth along the polar axis (axis of rotation)
and stretches it along the plane of the equator. The local vector sum of both forces is called gravity.
For navigation purposes the earth is considered a perfect sphere with some important features which
form the foundation for the coordinate system used for determining positions. The first, is the axis of the
earth's rotation. If you imagine the axis as a straight line passing through the center of the earth, the two
points where it passes through the surface are called the North and South terrestrial poles. Another
fundamental reference is established by passing a plane through the center of the earth, perpendicular to the
axis of rotation. This line is called the equator. The equator cuts the earth into two equal halves called the
Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Planes which pass through the earth's surface, but not through the center, parallel to the plane of the
equator, are small circles called parallels. Parallels are the top and bottom borders and horizontal lines printed
on charts used in piloting. A parallel is located in terms of the number of degrees, minutes, and tenths of
minutes of arc measured between the equator and the parallel. Parallel is another name for latitude, and is
termed north if measured from the equator toward the North Pole, and south if measured toward the South
Pole. Latitude is zero at the equator and 90 degrees North or South at the poles. The pole of the hemisphere in
which an observer is located is called the elevated pole. The elevated pole is always the pole which is nearer to
the observer which means the North Pole for an observer in north latitude, and the South Pole for an observer
in the Southern Hemisphere. Latitude provides one of the coordinates needed for locating positions on the
earth's surface, but a second coordinate is needed so you can pinpoint a spot on a parallel of latitude. To do
this a universally accepted starting point for measurement similar to the equator in measuring latitude had to
be established. It was agreed that the great circle described on the earth's surface by passing a plane through
the center, both poles, and the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England would be the starting point for a
measurement called longitude.
All great circles passing through both poles are called meridians. Meridians are represented by the side
borders and the vertical solid lines printed on charts used in piloting. Since these meridians are also great
circles, you can measure distance using the latitude scale which is printed along the side border. The meridian
of zero degrees longitude is called the Greenwich or prime meridian. The Greenwich meridian is actually the
upper branch of the Greenwich meridian because it is the half of the meridian which has the poles as end
points and passes through Greenwich. The other half of the Greenwich meridian, called the lower branch, is
called the 180th meridian. Another way of describing this is that the upper branch of a meridian is that half
which extends from the North Pole to the South Pole on the same side of the earth as the observer is located.
The lower branch of any meridian is at the longitude which is 180 degrees from the meridian on which an
observer is located.
Latitude is the angular distance from the equator, measured northward or southward along a
meridian. It is designated north (N) or south (S) to indicate the direction of measurement while Longitude is
the angular distance between the prime meridian and the meridian of a point on the earth, measured
eastward or westward from the prime meridian. It is designated east (E) or west (W) to indicate the direction
of measurement.