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

“Nautical” should be a hint; this kind of measurement is very useful if you are trying to navigate in the open ocean. Before GPS and other such fancy conveniences ships needed to do things like look at the relative angle of the stars at specific times in order to figure out their location on the globe.

When you are doing those kind of calculations, a unit which is defined as a meridian arc length of one minute of latitude is quite useful as opposed to some arbitrary distance.

Answer 2

“Nautical” should be a hint; this kind of measurement is very useful if you are trying to navigate in the open ocean. Before GPS and other such fancy conveniences ships needed to do things like look at the relative angle of the stars at specific times in order to figure out their location on the globe.

When you are doing those kind of calculations, a unit which is defined as a meridian arc length of one minute of latitude is quite useful as opposed to some arbitrary distance.