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From the American Heritage Dictionary are the following quite
ambiguous definitions:

bearing n.
  Direction, especially angular direction measured from one
  position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines.

course n.
  1. Onward movement in a particular direction; progress.
  2. The direction of continuing movement: took a northern course.

heading n.
  The course or direction in which a ship or an aircraft is moving.

track n.
  A path along which something moves;
  a course: following the track of an airplane on radar.

Here are my own definitions that I use to keep things straight in my
mind, and they correspond to Garmin GPS labels as well! ;-)

The **course** is the direction you want to go from postion A to B.
One is rarely on this line, especially in a car.  It is the theoretical
"as the crow flies" path, with a constant compass heading.

The **bearing** is where B is with respect to your current position.
It has nothing to do with A.  It has everything to do with answering
the question "which way do I need to go right now in order to get to B"?

The **track** is the current compass direction you are heading.  The
track has nothing to do with where A or B is with respect to you.  It
is only about what direction you are currently going.

I don't use the word **heading** much for the reasons that were pointed
out by Jared Sherman.

Dan

Daniel K. Allen
mailto:danallen46@attbi.com
http://home.attbi.com/~danallen46/

   

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