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Subject: Re: Bearings, Courses, Headings, and Tracks
From: Trevor Kenchington (Gadus@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Feb 05 2002 - 19:50:05 EST
Dan Allen wrote:
> Here are my own definitions that I use to keep things straight in my
> mind, and they correspond to Garmin GPS labels as well! ;-)
>
> The **course** is the direction you want to go from postion A to B.
> One is rarely on this line, especially in a car. It is the theoretical
> "as the crow flies" path, with a constant compass heading.
That is the direction of the track, as the term is defined for
navigational purposes, at least in North America.
> The **bearing** is where B is with respect to your current position.
> It has nothing to do with A. It has everything to do with answering
> the question "which way do I need to go right now in order to get to B"?
A bearing can also be to any point C that is not your destination, nor
your point of departure. Bearings stand apart from the
heading/course/track/course made good group of concepts.
> The **track** is the current compass direction you are heading. The
> track has nothing to do with where A or B is with respect to you. It
> is only about what direction you are currently going.
That is the heading or ship's head. It isn't something that any GPS can
display but must be read from the steering compass.
Trevor Kenchington
-- Trevor J. Kenchington PhD Gadus@XXX.XXX Gadus Associates, Office(902) 889-9250 R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour, Fax (902) 889-9251 Nova Scotia B0J 2L0, CANADA Home (902) 889-3555Science Serving the Fisheries http://home.istar.ca/~gadus
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