Over the past thirty years progress in the technologies associated with navigation has been so rapid as to produce a change in the balance between the art of the navigator and the practice of the technologist. The Royal Institute of Navigation was founded at the beginning of this era and one of its major aims was to provide a forum for discussions between practising navigators, scientists and engineers. Therefore, it seems that a consideration of the technical changes should help the Institute to adapt, much as all our social institutions are adapting, as a result of wider changes brought about by science and technology.