A position line is a line that can be identified both on a nautical chart or aeronautical chart and by observation out on the surface of the earth. The intersection of two position lines is a fix that is used in position fixing to identify the navigator's location.
There are several types of position line:
- Compass bearing - the angle between north and the line passing through the compass and the point of interest
- Transit - a line passing through the observer and two other reference points
- Leading line - the line passing through two marks indicating a safe channel
- Leading lights - the line passing through two beacons indicating a safe channel
- Sector lights – the lines created by masked coloured lights that indicate a safe channel
Famous quotes containing the words position and/or line:
“I believe that no man who holds a leader’s position should ever accept favors from either side. He is then committed to show favors. A leader must stand alone.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)
“What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobbler’s trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar’s garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)