3 ms·
For anyone as confused as I was, this article uses nm to mean nautical miles not nanometers.
by plandis 1y ago
For anyone as confused as I was, this article uses nm to mean nautical miles not nanometers.
- geerlingguy 1y agoOof, especially regarding GPS, nm (nanometer) and ns (nanosecond) are frequently used units of measurement. Nautical miles seems like it'd be more of a seafaring term?
- jajko 1y agoIts an US article, dont expect much. Anything but metric system is the mantra and people's egos won't allow any change
- dghlsakjg 1y agoMaybe don't bag on an entire country without examining your own prejudices. Nautical miles are used in this article by an aviation magazine presumably because they are the global standard for marine and aeronautical navigation, and have been since well before the metric system was a global standard. It is also worth noting that the US does not use nautical miles as a standard, they use statute miles. FYI, nautical miles are a useful standard for global navigation since they are referenced to the size of the earth itself.
- rlpb 1y agoAeronautical navigation also uses nautical miles. And as the article says: "A quarter century ago, the primary use for GPS was aviation and marine navigation".
- alnwlsn 1y agoIt's good for anything that goes a good distance over the (spherical) earth's surface. 1 nautical mile is just 1/60th of a degree around.
- ryandrake 1y agoSlight technical nit-pick: 1 nautical mile is 1/60th of a degree of latitude only, since the distance represented by angular longitudes varies depending on where you are on earth.
- mananaysiempre 1y agoWith single-digit precision like the article (appropriately) uses: 4×10⁴ km ≈ Earth’s circumference.
- BenjiWiebe 1y agoI wish I had your GPS receiver if you associate nanometers with GPS. ;-)