Position Line

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:

    “To be free in an age like ours, one must be in a position of authority. That in itself would be enough to make me ambitious.”
    —Ernest Renan (1823–1892)

    “I said: “A line will take us hours maybe;
    Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
    Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)