A position line is a line that can be identified both on a nautical chart or aeronautical chart and by observation out on the surface of the earth. The intersection of two position lines is a fix that is used in position fixing to identify the navigator's location.
There are several types of position line:
- Compass bearing - the angle between north and the line passing through the compass and the point of interest
- Transit - a line passing through the observer and two other reference points
- Leading line - the line passing through two marks indicating a safe channel
- Leading lights - the line passing through two beacons indicating a safe channel
- Sector lights – the lines created by masked coloured lights that indicate a safe channel
Famous quotes containing the words position and/or line:
“Journalism without a moral position is impossible. Every journalist is a moralist. It’s absolutely unavoidable. A journalist is someone who looks at the world and the way it works, someone who takes a close look at things every day and reports what she sees, someone who represents the world, the event, for others. She cannot do her work without judging what she sees.”
—Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)
“What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)