Why do we need Nautical Miles?

Question

Can’t we just use the metric or imperial system? why is there a need to use this measurement that is seemingly coming from chopping the earth into half and dividing its circumference by 360 degrees, and then calculating a minute of arc of it?

Also what did I just say? The way this measurement is made makes no sense

In: 0

Answer 1

A nautical mile is a function of the latitude and longitude system we use for coordinates. Since the latitude and longitude system is what we use to navigate, it makes sense to use a unit natural to it. Whenever you do distance calculation, be it longitude sailing, plane sailing, or great circle sailing, if you input latitude and longitude, the arithmetic will give you an answer in nautical miles. If you look at a chart and measure off a distance on your latitude scale, you can find your distance in nautical miles.

If we used metric, we would have to convert the natural distances that we observe through navigation. Since a conversion is an extra step, we use the natural unit instead. Why convert when you don’t have to? If you truly want a metric distance for navigation, you would need to make latitude and longitude metric as well. However, since the Earth is a globe, and globes have 360°, a metric coordinate system would also oppose the basic way we calculate geometry.

Answer 2

A nautical mile is a function of the latitude and longitude system we use for coordinates. Since the latitude and longitude system is what we use to navigate, it makes sense to use a unit natural to it. Whenever you do distance calculation, be it longitude sailing, plane sailing, or great circle sailing, if you input latitude and longitude, the arithmetic will give you an answer in nautical miles. If you look at a chart and measure off a distance on your latitude scale, you can find your distance in nautical miles.

If we used metric, we would have to convert the natural distances that we observe through navigation. Since a conversion is an extra step, we use the natural unit instead. Why convert when you don’t have to? If you truly want a metric distance for navigation, you would need to make latitude and longitude metric as well. However, since the Earth is a globe, and globes have 360°, a metric coordinate system would also oppose the basic way we calculate geometry.