NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
GPS vs Chart
From: Gordon Talge
Date: 1999 Oct 04, 1:42 AM
From: Gordon Talge
Date: 1999 Oct 04, 1:42 AM
It seems to me that the GPS is now getting the blame for Chart errors. Perhaps the Celestial navigator was a bit more careful because he/she knew that his/her position was somewhat in error, chart as well as his calculations. The GPS navigator thinks everything is "right on the money". The GPS is probably right, and the chart is in error, if something is really off. On charts of the Pacific you see stuff like, "Island reported 1/2 mile East of charted position -- April 1930". Back in the good ole days, you used celestial to get yourself in the general area, and then started searching for your island. Read the account of the HMS Bounty looking for Pitcarin Island. I also read an account of a ship in the general area of Cocos Island. They were looking for the island to get fresh water. Although they were at the reported position of the island, they never sighted it and after a couple of days searching, gave up. Other ships later spotted the island right away. -- Gordon ,,, (. .) +-----------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo----------------------+ | Gordon Talge WB6YKK e-mail: gtalge@pe.net | | Department of Mathematics QTH: Loma Linda, CA | | Aquinas High School Lat. N 34� 03.1' | | San Bernardino, CA 92404 Long. W 117� 15.2' | | http://www.AquinasHS.net | +--------------------------------------------------------+