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Subject: Re: Meridional Distances
From: Vic Fraenckel (vfraenc1@XXX.XXX)
Date: Wed Sep 18 2002 - 15:12:19 EDT
| The calculated course would be difficult to steer because the required
| heading changes continuously throughout the voyage. Mercator methods
| give a rhumb line, much easier for a sailor to follow. Besides, they
| are practical without electronics, so are closer to the spirit of this
| list. I suspect your suggestion would be too much for a navigator to
| handle without electronic help.
My routines give the azimuth (referenced to true north) of the second point
from the first point (and the azimuth from the second point to the first
point - NOT recipricals on an ellipse).
I did not realize the list had a "spirit"! Many navigators are now using
(dare I say it) computers to assist them with some of the more tedious
navigation chores. You may not be one of them and I respect you for that
view. But I bet there are some members of, and lurkers on this list who
have some aquaintance with the c-word on board a boat. I offered my
suggestion only as a contribution to the original thread and certainly not
to create a controversy. Others responding to this thread mentioned
calculators and spread sheet solutions therefore I thought it OK to mention
the c-word.
I provide a set of open source routines written in VB6 to solve this sort of
problem. I wrote the routines to solve some problems in cartography and made
my work available to any and all. All the source code is there for those
that would like to "roll their own". Just ask.
Vic
________________________________________________________
Victor Fraenckel - The Windman vfraenc1@XXX.XXX
KC2GUI www.windsway.com
Home of the WindReader Electronic Theodolite
Read the WIND
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long
and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
- Winston [Leonard Spencer] Churchill (1874 - 1965)
Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
-Count Oxenstierna (ca 1620)
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