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On Loxodromic Navigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

Kitt C. Carlton-Wippern
Affiliation:
(University of Colorado at Colorado Springs)

Abstract

This article addresses the mathematical foundations of rhumblines or loxodrome curves. These curves are critical to navigation and small-scale charting by virtue of the fact that they provide an efficient routeing from one point on a surface to another by means of a constant ‘course angle‘. This article will develop the necessary mathematical relations for the construction of such a curve, then apply the relations to both spherical and oblate-spheroidal surfaces. The purpose of this article is to produce a superior oblate-spheroidal loxodrome curve, which better models curves or routes of constant course on the actual, approximately oblatespheroidal, Earth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1992

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References

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