Definition - What does AutoCAD mean?

AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) program used for 2-D and 3-D design and drafting. AutoCAD is developed and marketed by Autodesk Inc. and was one of the initial CAD programs that could be executed on personal computers.

Techopedia explains AutoCAD

AutoCAD was initially derived from a program called Interact, which was written in a proprietary language. The fist release of the software used only primitive entities such as polygons, circles, lines, arcs and text to construct complex objects. Later, it came to support custom objects through a C++ application programming interface. The modern version of the software includes a full set of tools for solid modeling and 3-D. AutoCAD also support numerous application program interfaces for automation and customization. DWG (drawing) is the native file format for AutoCAD and a basic standard for CAD data interoperability. The software has also provided support for design Web format (DWF), a format developed by Autodesk for publishing CAD data.

Set square
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

triangle, set square

A set square or triangle (American English) is an object used in engineering and technical drawing, with the aim of providing a straightedge at a right angle or other particular planar angle to a baseline. The most simple form of set square is a triangular piece of transparent plastic (or formerly of polished wood) with the centre removed. More commonly the set square bears the markings of a ruler and a half circle protractor. The outer edges are typically bevelled. These set squares come in two usual forms, both right triangles: one with 90-45-45 degree angles, the other with 30-6090 degree angles. Combining the two forms by placing the hypotenuses together will also yield 15 and 75 angles. They are often purchased in packs with protractors and compasses. Less commonly found is the adjustable set square. Here, the body of the object is cut in half and rejoined with a hinge marked with angles. Adjustment to the marked angle will produce any desired angle up to a maximum of 180.

See also

Protractor

A half circle protractor marked in degrees (180).

A protractor is a square, circular or semicircular tool, typically made of transparent plastic or glass, for measuring angles. Most protractors measure angles in degrees (). Radian-scale protractors measure angles in radians. They are used for a variety of mechanical and engineering-related applications, but perhaps the most common use is in geometry lessons in schools. Some protractors are simple half-discs. More advanced protractors, such as the bevel protractor, have one or two swinging arms, which can be used to help measure the angle.

Contents

1 Bevel protractor 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Bevel protractor
A bevel protractor is a graduated circular protractor with one pivoted arm; used for measuring or marking off angles. Sometimes Vernier scales are attached to give more precise readings. It has wide application in architectural and mechanical drawing, although its use is decreasing with the availability of modern drawing software or CAD. Universal bevel protractors are also used by toolmakers; as they measure angles by mechanical contact they are classed as mechanical protractors.[1][2] The bevel protractor is used to establish and test angles to very close tolerances. It reads to 5 minutes or 1/12[clarification needed] and can measure any angle from 0 to 360. The bevel protractor consists of a beam, a graduated dial and a blade which is connected to a swivel plate (with Vernier scale) by thumb nut and clamp. When the edges of the beam and blade are parallel, a small mark on the swivel plate coincides with the zero line on the graduated dial. To measure an angle between the beam and the blade of 90 or less, the reading may be obtained direct from the graduation number on the dial indicated by the mark on the swivel plate. To measure an angle of over 90, subtract the number of degrees as indicated on the dial from 180, as the dial is graduated from opposite zero marks to 90 each way.

Since the spaces, both on the main scale and the Vernier scale, are numbered both to the right and to the left from zero, any angle can be measured. The readings can be taken either to the right or to the left, according to the direction in which the zero on the main scale is moved. The above picture illustrates a variety of uses of the bevel protractor. Reading the Vernier scale: The bevel protractor Vernier scale may have graduations of 5 (minutes) or 1/12. Each space on the Vernier scale is 5 less than two spaces on the main scale[clarification needed]. Twenty four spaces on the Vernier scale equal in extreme length twenty three double degrees[clarification needed]. Thus the difference between the space occupied by 2 on a main scale and the space of the Vernier scale is equal to one twenty-fourth of 2, or 5. Read off directly from the main scale the number of whole degrees between 0 on this scale and the 0 of the Vernier scale. Then count, in the same direction, the number of spaces from the zero on the Vernier scale to a line that coincides with a line on the main scale; multiply this number by 5 and the product will be the number of minutes to be added to the whole number of degrees. For example: Zero on the vernier scale has moved 28 whole degrees to the right of the 0 on the main scale and the 3rd line on the vernier scale coincides with a line upon the main scale as indicated. Multiplying 3 by 5, the product, 15, is the number of minutes to be added to the whole number of degrees, thus indicating a setting of 28 degrees and 15 minutes.

A half circle protractor marked in degrees (180).

A 360 protractor marked in degrees.

 Another 360 protractor marked in degrees.

A 400g protractor marked in grads.

A "Cras Navigation Plotter" double-protractor, in foreground.

A half circle protractor marked in degrees (180).

A set square with integrated protractor

Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. It is owned and manufactured by The Dow Chemical Company.[1]

In the United States and Canada, the word styrofoam refers to expanded (not extruded) polystyrene foam, such as disposable coffee cups, coolers, or cushioning material in packaging, which are typically white and are made of expanded polystyrene beads.[1] This is a different material from the extruded polystyrene used for Styrofoam insulation. The polystyrene foam used for craft applications, which can be identified by its roughness and by the fact that it "crunches" when cut, is moderately soluble in many organic solvents, cyanoacrylate, and the propellants and solvents of spray paint, and is not specifically identified as expanded or extruded. Another tradename for expanded polystyrene is thermacol, originated by BASF.

Contents

1 History 2 Uses 3 Environmental effects 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History
In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene. Led by Ray McIntire, they "rediscovered" a method first discovered by Swedish inventor Carl Georg Munters.[2] Dow acquired exclusive rights to use Munters' patents and found ways to make large quantities of extruded polystyrene as a closed cell foam that resists moisture.

Uses
Styrofoam is composed of ninety-eight percent air, making it light weight and buoyant.[3] Because of its insulating properties and buoyancy, it was adopted in 1942 by the United States Coast Guard for use in a six-person life raft. In 1971 a Dutch marine salvage company, Smit International, used styrofoam balls to refloat part of a wrecked bulk carrier, the London Valour.[4] Smit succeeded in towing the wreck for about 90 miles (140 kilometres) but it then sank, spilling large amounts of Styrofoam on the surface of the sea.[4]

Styrofoam has since found a variety of uses. Dow produces Styrofoam building materials, including insulated sheathing and pipe insulation. The claimed R-value of Styrofoam insulation is five per inch.[5] Dow also produces Styrofoam as a structural material for use by florists and in craft products.[6] Dow insulation Styrofoam has a distinctive blue color; Styrofoam for craft applications is available in white and green. Styrofoam can be used under roads and other structures to prevent soil disturbances due to freezing and thawing.[7][8]

Compass

A simple dry magnetic portable compass.

A smartphone that can be used as a compass because of the magnetometer inside.

A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions (or points) north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined. Usually, a diagram called a compass rose, which shows the directions (with their names usually abbreviated to initials), is marked on the compass. When the compass is in use, the rose is aligned with the real directions in the frame of reference, so, for example, the "N" mark on the rose really points to the north. Frequently, in addition to the rose or sometimes instead of it, angle markings in degrees are shown on the compass. North corresponds to zero degrees, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90 degrees, south is 180, and west is 270. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearings, which are commonly stated in this notation. The magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the Chinese Han Dynasty (since about 206 BC).[1][2][3] The compass was used in Song Dynasty China by the military for navigational orienteering by 1040-1044,[4][5][6] and was used for maritime navigation by 1111 to 1117.[7] The use of a compass is recorded in Western Europe between 1187 and 1202,[8][9][10] and in Persia in 1232.[11] The dry compass was invented in Europe around 1300.[12] This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass.[13]

Contents

1 Types of compasses o 1.1 Magnetic compass o 1.2 How a magnetic compass works 2 History o 2.1 Navigation prior to the compass o 2.2 Geomancy and feng shui o 2.3 Navigational compass 2.3.1 China 2.3.2 Medieval Europe 2.3.3 Islamic world 2.3.4 India 2.3.5 Medieval Africa 3 Later developments o 3.1 Dry compass o 3.2 Bearing compass o 3.3 Liquid compass 4 History of non-navigational uses o 4.1 Building orientation o 4.2 Mining o 4.3 Astronomy 5 Modern compasses o 5.1 Thumb compass o 5.2 Gyrocompass o 5.3 Solid state compasses o 5.4 Specialty compasses o 5.5 Limitations of the magnetic compass 6 Construction of a compass

6.1 Magnetic needle 6.2 Needle-and-bowl device 6.3 Points of the compass 6.4 Compass balancing (magnetic dip) 6.5 Compass correction 7 Using a compass 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links

o o o o o

Types of compasses

A military compass that was used during World War I.

There are two widely used and radically different types of compass. The magnetic compass contains a magnet that interacts with the earth's magnetic field and aligns itself to point to the magnetic poles.[14] Simple compasses of this type show directions in a frame of reference in which the directions of the magnetic poles are due north and south. These directions are called magnetic north and magnetic south. The gyro compass (sometimes spelled with a hyphen, or as one word) contains a rapidly spinning wheel whose rotation interacts dynamically with the rotation of the earth so as to make the wheel precess, losing energy to friction until its axis of rotation is parallel with the earth's. The wheel's axis therefore points to the earth's rotational poles, and a frame of reference is used in which the directions of the rotational poles are due

north and south. These directions are called true north and true south, respectively. The astrocompass works by observing the direction of stars and other celestial bodies. There are other devices which are not conventionally called compasses but which do allow the true cardinal directions to be determined. Some GPS receivers have two or three antennas, fixed some distance apart to the structure of a vehicle, usually an aircraft or ship. The exact latitudes and longitudes of the antennas can be determined simultaneously, which allows the directions of the cardinal points to be calculated relative to the heading of the aircraft (the direction in which its nose is pointing), rather than to its direction of movement, which will be different if there is a crosswind. They are said to work "like a compass", or "as a compass". Even a GPS device or similar can be used as compass, since if the receiver is being moved, even at walking pace, it can follow the change of its position, and hence determine the compass bearing of its direction of movement, and thence the directions of the cardinal points relative to its direction of movement. A much older example was the Chinese south-pointing chariot, which worked like a compass by directional dead reckoning. It was initialized by hand, possibly using astronomical observations e.g. of the Pole Star, and thenceforth counteracted every turn that was made to keep its pointer aiming in the desired direction, usually to the south. Watches and sundials can also be used to find compass directions. See their articles for details. A recent development is the electronic compass which detects the direction without potentially fallible moving parts. This may use a fibre optic gyrocompass or a magnetometer. The magnetometer frequently appears as an optional subsystem built into hand-held GPS receivers and mobile phones. However, magnetic compasses remain popular, especially in remote areas, as they are relatively inexpensive, durable, and require no power supply.[15]
Magnetic compass

The magnetic compass consists of a magnetized pointer (usually marked on the North end) free to align itself with Earth's magnetic field. A compass is any magnetically sensitive device capable of indicating the direction of the magnetic north of a planet's magnetosphere. The face of the compass generally highlights the cardinal points of north, south, east and west. Often, compasses are built as a stand alone sealed instrument with a magnetized bar or needle turning freely upon a pivot, or moving in a fluid, thus able to point in a northerly and southerly direction. The compass greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel. A compass can be used to calculate heading, used with a sextant to calculate latitude, and with a marine chronometer to calculate longitude. It thus provides a much improved navigational capability that has only been recently supplanted by modern devices such as the Global Positioning System (GPS).

How a magnetic compass works

An inexpensive compass, aligned so that its needle points through the "North" mark on its compass card.

A compass functions as a pointer to "magnetic north" because the magnetized needle at its heart aligns itself with the lines of the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field exerts a torque on the needle, pulling one end or pole of the needle toward the Earth's North magnetic pole, and the other toward the South magnetic pole. The needle is mounted on a low-friction pivot point, in better compasses a jewel bearing, so it can turn easily. When the compass is held level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillations to die out, one end points toward the North magnetic pole. A magnet or compass needle's "north" pole is defined as the one which is attracted to the North magnetic pole of the Earth, in northern Canada. Since opposite poles attract ("north" to "south") the North magnetic pole of the Earth is actually the south pole of the Earth's magnetic field.[16][17][18] The compass needle's north pole is always marked in some way: with a distinctive color, luminous paint, or an arrowhead. Instead of a needle, professional compasses usually have bar magnets glued to the underside of a disk pivoted in the center so it can turn, called a "compass card", with a "compass rose" showing the cardinal points and degrees marked on it. Better compasses are "liquid-filled"; the chamber containing the needle or disk is filled with a liquid whose purpose is to damp the oscillations of the needle so it will settle down to point to North more quickly, and also to protect the needle or disk from shock. In navigation, directions on maps are expressed with reference to geographical or true north, the direction toward the Geographical North Pole, the rotation axis of the Earth. Since the Earth's magnetic poles are near, but are not at the same locations as its geographic poles, a compass does not point to true north. The direction a compass points is called magnetic north, the direction of the North magnetic pole, located in northeastern Canada. Depending on where the compass is located on the surface of the Earth the angle between true north and magnetic north, called magnetic declination can vary widely, increasing the farther one is from the prime meridian of the Earth's magnetic field. The local magnetic declination is given on most maps, to allow the map to be oriented with a compass parallel to true north. Some magnetic compasses include

means to manually compensate for the magnetic declination, so that the compass shows true directions. In geographic regions near the magnetic poles, in northeastern Canada and Antarctica, variations in the Earth's magnetic field cause magnetic compasses to have such large errors that they are useless, so other instruments must be used for navigation. The positions of the magnetic poles change over time on a time-scale that is not extremely long by human standards. Significant movements happen in a few years.

History
The compass was invented in China, during the Han Dynasty between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD.[1] The first compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized ore of iron.[3] Ancient Chinese people found that if a lodestone was suspended so it could turn freely, it would always point in the same direction, toward the magnetic poles. Early compasses were used for geomancy "in the search for gems and the selection of sites for houses," but were later adapted for navigation during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century.[3] Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone. The dry compass was invented in medieval Europe around 1300.[12] This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass.[13]
Navigation prior to the compass See also: Polynesian navigation

Prior to the introduction of the compass, position, destination, and direction at sea were primarily determined by the sighting of landmarks, supplemented with the observation of the position of celestial bodies. On cloudy days, the Vikings may have used cordierite or some other birefringent crystal to determine the sun's direction and elevation from the polarization of daylight; their astronomical knowledge was sufficient to let them use this information to determine their proper heading.[19] For more southerly Europeans unacquainted with this technique, the invention of the compass enabled the determination of heading when the sky was overcast or foggy. This enabled mariners to navigate safely far from land, increasing sea trade, and contributing to the Age of Discovery.
Geomancy and feng shui

Magnetism was originally used, not for navigation, but for geomancy and fortune-telling by the Chinese. The earliest Chinese magnetic compasses were probably not designed for navigation, but rather to order and harmonize their environments and buildings in accordance with the geomantic principles of feng shui. These early compasses were made using lodestone, a special form of the mineral magnetite that aligns itself with the Earths magnetic field.[20] Based on Krotser and Coe's discovery of an Olmec hematite artifact in Mesoamerica, radiocarbon dated to 1400-1000 BC, astronomer John Carlson has hypothesized that the Olmec might have used the geomagnetic lodestone earlier than 1000 BC for geomancy, a method of

divination, which if proven true, predates the Chinese use of magnetism for feng shui by a millennium.[21] Carlson speculates that the Olmecs used similar artifacts as a directional device for astronomical or geomantic purposes but does not suggest navigational usage. The artifact is part of a polished hematite (lodestone) bar with a groove at one end (possibly for sighting). The artifact now consistently points 35.5 degrees west of north, but may have pointed north-south when whole. Carlson's claims have been disputed by other scientific researchers, who have suggested that the artifact is actually a constituent piece of a decorative ornament and not a purposely built compass.[22] Several other hematite or magnetite artifacts have been found at preColumbian archaeological sites in Mexico and Guatemala.[23][24]
Navigational compass

The invention of the navigational compass is credited by scholars to the Chinese, who began using it for navigation sometime between the 9th and 11th century, "some time before 1050, possibly as early as 850."[25] A common theory by historians,[25][26] suggests that the Arabs introduced the compass from China to Europe, although current textual evidence only supports the fact that Chinese use of the navigational compass preceded that of Europe and the Middle East.[4] China
Further information: Four Great Inventions, List of Chinese inventions, and History of science and technology in China

Model of a Han Dynasty (206 BC220 AD) south-indicating ladle or sinan. It is theorized[by whom?] that the south-pointing spoons of the Han dynasty were magnetized lodestones.[27]

There is disagreement as to exactly when the compass was invented. These are noteworthy Chinese literary references in evidence for its antiquity:

The earliest Chinese literature reference to magnetism lies in the 4th century BC writings of Wang Xu (): "The lodestone attracts iron."[28] The book also notes that the people of the state of Zheng always knew their position by means of a "south-pointer"; some authors suggest that this refers to early use of the compass.[3][29]

The first mention of a spoon, speculated to be a lodestone, observed pointing in a cardinal direction is a Chinese work composed between 70 and 80 AD (Lunheng), which records that "But when the south pointing spoon is thrown upon the ground, it comes to rest pointing at the south."[30] Within the text, the author Wang Chong describes the spoon as a phenomenon that he has personally observed.[31] Although the passage does not explicitly mention magnetism,[32] according to Chen-Cheng Yih, the "device described by Wang Chong has been widely considered to be the earliest form of the magnetic compass."[27] The first clear account of magnetic declination occurs in the Kuan Shih Ti Li Chih Meng ("Mr. Kuan's Geomantic Instructor"), dating to 880.[33] Another text, the Chiu Thien Hsuan Nu Chhing Nang Hai Chio Ching ("Blue Bag Sea Angle Manual") from around the same period, also has an implicit description of magnetic declination. It has been argued that this knowledge of declination requires the use of the compass.[33] A reference to a magnetized needle as a "mysterious needle" appears in 923-926 in the Chung Hua Ku Chin Chu text written by Ma Kao. The same passage is also attributed to the 4th century AD writer Tshui Pao, although it is postulated that the former text is more authentic. The shape of the needle is compared to that of a tadpole, and may indicate the transition between "lodestone spoons" and "iron needles."[34] The earliest reference to a specific magnetic direction finder device for land navigation is recorded in a Song Dynasty book dated to 1040-44. There is a description of an iron "southpointing fish" floating in a bowl of water, aligning itself to the south. The device is recommended as a means of orientation "in the obscurity of the night." The Wujing Zongyao (, "Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques") stated: "When troops encountered gloomy weather or dark nights, and the directions of space could not be distinguished...they made use of the [mechanical] south-pointing carriage, or the south-pointing fish."[5] This was achieved by heating of metal (especially if steel), known today as thermoremanence, and would have been capable of producing a weak state of magnetization.[5] While the Chinese achieved magnetic remanence and induction by this time, in both Europe and Asia the phenomenon was attributed to the supernatural and occult, until about 1600 when William Gilbert published his De Magnete.[35] The first incontestable reference to a magnetized needle in Chinese literature appears in 1088.[6] The Dream Pool Essays, written by the Song Dynasty polymath scientist Shen Kuo, contained a detailed description of how geomancers magnetized a needle by rubbing its tip with lodestone, and hung the magnetic needle with one single strain of silk with a bit of wax attached to the center of the needle. Shen Kuo pointed out that a needle prepared this way sometimes pointed south, sometimes north. The earliest explicit recorded use of a magnetic compass for maritime navigation is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingchow Table Talks (; Pingzhou Ketan) and dates from 1111 to 1117: The ship's pilots are acquainted with the configuration of the coasts; at night they steer by the stars , and in the daytime by the sun. In dark weather they look at the south pointing needle.[7]

Thus, the use of a magnetic compass by the military for land navigation occurred sometime before 1044, but incontestable evidence for the use of the compass as a maritime navigational device did not appear until 1117. The typical Chinese navigational compass was in the form of a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water.[36] According to Needham, the Chinese in the Song Dynasty and continuing Yuan Dynasty did make use of a dry compass, although this type never became as widely used in

China as the wet compass.[37] Evidence of this is found in the Shilin guangji ("Guide Through the Forest of Affairs"), published in 1325 by Chen Yuanjing, although its compilation had taken place between 1100 and 1250.[37] The dry compass in China was a dry suspension compass, a wooden frame crafted in the shape of a turtle hung upside down by a board, with the lodestone sealed in by wax, and if rotated, the needle at the tail would always point in the northern cardinal direction.[37] Although the European compass-card in box frame and dry pivot needle was adopted in China after its use was taken by Japanese pirates in the 16th century (who had in turn learned of it from Europeans),[38] the Chinese design of the suspended dry compass persisted in use well into the 18th century.[39] However, according to Kreutz there is only a single Chinese reference to a dry-mounted needle (built into a pivoted wooden tortoise) which is dated to between 1150 and 1250, and claims that there is no clear indication that Chinese mariners ever used anything but the floating needle in a bowl until the 16th-century.[36]

Diagram of a Ming Dynasty mariner's compass

The first recorded use of a 48 position mariner's compass on sea navigation was noted in The Customs of Cambodia by Yuan Dynasty diplomat Zhou Daguan, he described his 1296 voyage from Wenzhou to Angkor Thom in detail; when his ship set sail from Wenzhou, the mariner took a needle direction of ding wei position, which is equivalent to 22.5 degree SW. After they arrived at Baria,[disambiguation needed] the mariner took "Kun Shen needle", or 52.5 degree SW.[40] Zheng He's Navigation Map, also known as "The Mao Kun Map", contains a large amount of detail "needle records" of Zheng He's expeditions.[41] There is a debate over the diffusion of the compass after its first appearance with the Chinese. At present, according to Kreutz, scholarly consensus is that the Chinese invention predates the first European mention by 150 years.[4] However, there are questions over diffusion, because of the apparent failure of the Arabs to function as possible intermediaries between East and West because of the earlier recorded appearance of the compass in Europe (1190)[8] than in the Muslim world (1232, 1242, and 1282).[11][42] The first European mention of a magnetized needle and its use among sailors occurs in Alexander Neckam's De naturis rerum (On the Natures of Things), written in 1190.[8][10] The earliest reference to a compass in the Middle East is attributed to the

Persians, who describe an iron fish-like compass in a talebook dating from 1232.[11] In the Arab world, the earliest reference comes in The Book of the Merchants' Treasure, written by one Baylak al-Kibjaki in Cairo about 1282.[42] Since the author describes having witnessed the use of a compass on a ship trip some forty years earlier, some scholars are inclined to antedate its first appearance accordingly. That the Arabic word for "Compass" (al-konbas) may be a derivation of the old Italian word for compass, is also used as evidence for the lack of diffusion from China to Europe. However, the Persian compass is described as fish-like, which is a characteristic of early Chinese compasses from the 11th century, suggesting transmission from China to Persia.[43] Medieval Europe

Pivoting compass needle in a 14th-century copy of Epistola de magnete of Peter Peregrinus (1269).

Alexander Neckam reported the use of a magnetic compass for the region of the English Channel in the texts De utensilibus and De naturis rerum,[9] written between 1187 and 1202, after he returned to England from France[44] and prior to entering the Augustinian abbey at Cirencester.[45] In 1269 Petrus Peregrinus of Maricourt described a floating compass for astronomical purposes as well as a dry compass for seafaring, in his well-known Epistola de magnete.[9] In the Mediterranean, the introduction of the compass, at first only known as a magnetized pointer floating in a bowl of water,[46] went hand in hand with improvements in dead reckoning methods, and the development of Portolan charts, leading to more navigation during winter months in the second half of the 13th century.[47] While the practice from ancient times had been to curtail sea travel between October and April, due in part to the lack of dependable clear skies during the Mediterranean winter, the prolongation of the sailing season resulted in a gradual, but sustained increase in shipping movement; by around 1290 the sailing season could start in late January or February, and end in December.[48] The additional few months were of considerable economic importance. For instance, it enabled Venetian convoys to make two round trips a year to the Levant, instead of one.[49] At the same time, traffic between the Mediterranean and northern Europe also increased, with first evidence of direct commercial voyages from the Mediterranean into the English Channel

coming in the closing decades of the 13th century, and one factor may be that the compass made traversal of the Bay of Biscay safer and easier.[50] However, critics like Kreutz feel that it was later in 1410 that anyone really started steering by compass.[51]

Navigational sailor's compass rose.

At present, according to Kreutz, "barring the discovery of new evidence, it seems clear the first Chinese reference to" the compass "antedates any European mention by roughly 150 years."[4] However, there are questions over diffusion, because of the apparent failure of the Arabs to function as possible intermediaries between East and West because of the earlier recorded appearance of the compass in Europe (1190)[8] than in the Muslim world (1232, 1242, and 1282).[11][42] This is countered by evidence of the temporal proximity of the Chinese navigational compass (1117) to its first appearance in Europe (1190) and the common shape of the early compass as a magnetized needle floating in a bowl of water.[8] Islamic world The earliest reference to an iron fish-like compass in the Islamic world occurs in a Persian talebook from 1232.[11] This fish shape was from a typical early Chinese design.[43] The earliest Arabic reference to a compass in the form of magnetic needle in a bowl of water comes from the Yemeni sultan and astronomer Al-Ashraf in 1282.[42] He also appears to be the first to make use of the compass for astronomical purposes.[52] Since the author describes having witnessed the use of a compass on a ship trip some forty years earlier, some scholars are inclined to antedate its first appearance in the Arab world accordingly.[11] In 1300, another Arabic treatise written by the Egyptian astronomer and muezzin Ibn Simn describes a dry compass for use as a "Qibla (Kabba) indicator" to find the direction to Mecca. Like Peregrinus' compass, however, Ibn Simn's compass did not feature a compass card.[9] In the 14th century, the Syrian astronomer and timekeeper Ibn al-Shatir (13041375) invented a timekeeping device incorporating both a universal sundial and a magnetic compass. He invented it for the purpose of finding the times of Salah prayers.[53] Arab navigators also introduced the 32-point compass rose during this time.[54]

India The compass was used in India for navigational purposes and was known as the matsya yantra, because of the placement of a metallic fish in a cup of oil.[55] Medieval Africa There is evidence that the distribution of the compass from China likely also reached eastern Africa by way of trade through the end of the Silk Road that ended in East African center of trade in Somalia and the Swahili city-state kingdoms.[56] There is evidence that Swahili maritime merchants and sailors acquired the compass at some point and used them for navigation of Swahili versions of dhows.[57]

Later developments
Dry compass

Early modern dry compass suspended by a gimbal (1570).

The dry mariner's compass was invented in Europe around 1300. The dry mariner's compass consists of three elements: A freely pivoting needle on a pin enclosed in a little box with a glass cover and a wind rose, whereby "the wind rose or compass card is attached to a magnetized needle in such a manner that when placed on a pivot in a box fastened in line with the keel of the ship the card would turn as the ship changed direction, indicating always what course the ship was on".[12] Later, compasses were often fitted into a gimbal mounting to reduce grounding of the needle or card when used on the pitching and rolling deck of a ship. While pivoting needles in glass boxes had already been described by the French scholar Peter Peregrinus in 1269,[58] and by the Egyptian scholar Ibn Simn in 1300,[9] traditionally Flavio Gioja (fl. 1302), an Italian pilot from Amalfi, has been credited with perfecting the sailor's compass by suspending its needle over a compass card, thus giving the compass its familiar appearance.[59] Such a compass with the needle attached to a rotating card is also described in a commentary on Dante's Divine Comedy from 1380, while an earlier source refers to a portable

compass in a box (1318),[60] supporting the notion that the dry compass was known in Europe by then.[36]
Bearing compass

Bearing compass (18th century).

A bearing compass is a magnetic compass mounted in such a way that it allows the taking of bearings of objects by aligning them with the lubber line of the bearing compass.[61] A surveyor's compass is a specialized compass made to accurately measure heading of landmarks and measure horizontal angles to help with map making. These were already in common use by the early 18th century and are described in the 1728 Cyclopaedia. The bearing compass was steadily reduced in size and weight to increase portability, resulting in a model that could be carried and operated in one hand. In 1885, a patent was granted for a hand compass fitted with a viewing prism and lens that enabled the user to accurately sight the heading of geographical landmarks, thus creating the prismatic compass.[62] Another sighting method was by means of a reflective mirror. First patented in 1902, the Bzard compass consisted of a field compass with a mirror mounted above it.[63][64] This arrangement enabled the user to align the compass with an objective while simultaneously viewing its bearing in the mirror.[63][65] In 1928, Gunnar Tillander, a Swedish unemployed instrument maker and avid participant in the sport of orienteering, invented a new style of bearing compass. Dissatisfied with existing field compasses, which required a separate protractor in order to take bearings from a map, Tillander decided to incorporate both instruments into a single instrument. It combined a compass with a protractor built into the base. His design featured a metal compass capsule containing a magnetic needle with orienting marks mounted into a transparent protractor baseplate with a lubber line (later called a direction of travel indicator). By rotating the capsule to align the needle with the orienting marks, the course bearing could be read at the lubber line. Moreover, by aligning the baseplate with a course drawn on a map - ignoring the needle - the compass could also function as a protractor. Tillander took his design to fellow orienteers Bjrn, Alvid, and Alvar Kjellstrm, who were selling basic compasses, and the four men modified Tillander's design.[66] In December 1932, the Silva Company was formed with Tillander and the three Kjellstrm brothers, and the

company began manufacturing and selling its Silva orienteering compass to Swedish orienteers, outdoorsmen, and army officers.[66][67][68][69]
Liquid compass

A surface mount, liquid-filled compass on a boat.

The liquid compass is a design in which the magnetized needle or card is damped by fluid to protect against excessive swing or wobble, improving readability while reducing wear. A rudimentary working model of a liquid compass was introduced by Sir Edmund Halley at a meeting of the Royal Society in 1690.[70] However, as early liquid compasses were fairly cumbersome and heavy, and subject to damage, their main advantage was aboard ship. Protected in a binnacle and normally gimbal-mounted, the liquid inside the compass housing effectively damped shock and vibration, while eliminating excessive swing and grounding of the card caused by the pitch and roll of the vessel. The first liquid mariner's compass believed practicable for limited use was patented by the Englishman Francis Crow in 1813.[71][72] Liquid-damped marine compasses for ships and small boats were occasionally used by the British Royal Navy from the 1830s through 1860, but the standard Admiralty compass remained a dry-mount type.[73] In the latter year, the American physicist and inventor Edward Samuel Ritchie patented a greatly improved liquid marine compass that was adopted in revised form for general use by the United States Navy, and later purchased by the Royal Navy as well.[74] Despite these advances, the liquid compass was not introduced generally into the Royal Navy until 1908. An early version developed by RN Captain Creak proved to be operational under heavy gunfire and seas, but was felt to lack navigational precision compared with the design by Lord Kelvin: Captain Creak's first step in the development of the liquid compass was to introduce a "card mounted on a float, with two thin and relatively short needles, fitted with their poles at the scientifically correct angular distances, and with the centre of gravity, centre of buoyancy, and the point of suspension in correct relation to each other...The compass thus designed rectified the defects of the Admiralty Standard Compass...with the additional advantage of considerable steadiness under heavy gunfire and in a seaway... The one defect in the compass as developed by

Creak up to 1892 was that "for manoeuvring purposes it was inferior to Lord Kelvin's compass, owing to comparative sluggishness on a large alteration of course through the drag on the card by the liquid in which it floated...[13][75]

Typical aircraft-mounted magnetic compass.

However, with ship and gun sizes continuously increasing, the advantages of the liquid compass over the Kelvin compass became unavoidably apparent to the Admiralty, and after widespread adoption by other navies, the liquid compass was generally adopted by the Royal Navy as well.[13] Liquid compasses were next adapted for aircraft. In 1909, Captain F.O. Creagh-Osborne, Superintendent of Compasses at the British Admiralty, introduced his Creagh-Osborne aircraft compass, which used a mixture of alcohol and distilled water to damp the compass card.[76][77] After the success of this invention, Capt. Creagh-Osborne adapted his design to a much smaller pocket model[78] for individual use[79] by officers of artillery or infantry, receiving a patent in 1915.[80] In December 1932, the newly founded Silva Company of Sweden introduced its first baseplate or bearing compass that used a liquid-filled capsule to damp the swing of the magnetized needle.[66] The liquid-damped Silva took only four seconds for its needle to settle in comparison to thirty seconds for the original version.[66] In 1933 Tuomas Vohlonen, a surveyor by profession, applied for a patent for a unique method of filling and sealing a lightweight celluloid compass housing or capsule with a petroleum distillate to dampen the needle and protect it from shock and wear caused by excessive motion.[81] Introduced in a wrist-mount model in 1936 as the Suunto Oy Model M-311, the new capsule design led directly to the lightweight liquid field compasses of today.[81]

History of non-navigational uses

Building orientation

Evidence for the orientation of buildings by the means of a magnetic compass can be found in 12th century Denmark: one fourth of its 570 Romanesque churches are rotated by 5-15 degrees clockwise from true east-west, thus corresponding to the predominant magnetic declination of the time of their construction.[82] Most of these churches were built in the 12th century, indicating a fairly common usage of magnetic compasses in Europe by then.[83]
Mining

The use of a compass as a direction finder underground was pioneered by the Tuscan mining town Massa where floating magnetic needles were employed for determining tunneling and defining the claims of the various mining companies as early as the 13th century.[84] In the second half of the 15th century, the compass became standard equipment for Tyrolian miners. Shortly afterwards the first detailed treatise dealing with the underground use of compasses was published by a German miner Rlein von Calw (14631525).[85]
Astronomy

Three astronomical compasses meant for establishing the meridian were described by Peter Peregrinus in 1269 (referring to experiments made before 1248)[86] In the 1300s, an Arabic treatise written by the Egyptian astronomer and muezzin Ibn Simn describes a dry compass for use as a "Qibla indicator" to find the direction to Mecca. Ibn Simn's compass, however, did not feature a compass card nor the familiar glass box.[9] In the 14th century, the Syrian astronomer and timekeeper Ibn al-Shatir (13041375) invented a timekeeping device incorporating both a universal sundial and a magnetic compass. He invented it for the purpose of finding the times of Salah prayers.[53] Arab navigators also introduced the 32-point compass rose during this time.[54]

Modern compasses

A liquid-filled protractor or orienteering compass with lanyard.

Modern compasses usually use a magnetized needle or dial inside a capsule completely filled with a liquid (lamp oil, mineral oil, white spirits, purified kerosene, or ethyl alcohol is common). While older designs commonly incorporated a flexible rubber diaphragm or airspace inside the capsule to allow for volume changes caused by temperature or altitude, some modern liquid compasses utilize smaller housings and/or flexible capsule materials to accomplish the same result.[87] The liquid inside the capsule serves to dampen the movement of the needle, reducing oscillation time and increasing stability. Key points on the compass, including the north end of the needle are often marked with phosphorescent, photoluminescent, or self-luminous materials[88] to enable the compass to be read at night or in poor light. As the compass fill liquid is noncompressible under pressure, many ordinary liquid-filled compasses will operate accurately underwater to considerable depths. Many modern compasses incorporate a baseplate and protractor tool, and are referred to variously as "orienteering", "baseplate", "map compass" or "protractor" designs. This type of compass uses a separate magnetized needle inside a rotating capsule, an orienting "box" or gate for aligning the needle with magnetic north, a transparent base containing map orienting lines, and a bezel (outer dial) marked in degrees or other units of angular measurement.[89] The capsule is mounted in a transparent baseplate containing a direction-of-travel (DOT) indicator for use in taking bearings directly from a map.[89]

Liquid filled lensatic compass.

Cammenga air filled lensatic compass.

Other features found on modern orienteering compasses are map and romer scales for measuring distances and plotting positions on maps, luminous markings on the face or bezels, various sighting mechanisms (mirror, prism, etc.) for taking bearings of distant objects with greater precision, "global" needles for use in differing hemispheres, adjustable declination for obtaining instant true bearings without resort to arithmetic, and devices such as clinometers for measuring gradients.[89] The sport of orienteering has also resulted in the development of models with extremely fast-settling and stable needles for optimal use with a topographic map, a land navigation technique known as terrain association.[90] The military forces of a few nations, notably the United States Army, continue to issue field compasses with magnetized compass dials or cards instead of needles. A magnetic card compass is usually equipped with an optical, lensatic, or prismatic sight, which allows the user to read the bearing or azimuth off the compass card while simultaneously aligning the compass with the objective (see photo). Magnetic card compass designs normally require a separate protractor tool in order to take bearings directly from a map.[89][91] The U.S. M-1950 military lensatic compass does not use a liquid-filled capsule as a dampening mechanism, but rather electromagnetic induction to control oscillation of it magnetized card. A "deep-well" design is used to allow the compass to be used globally with a card tilt of up to 8 degrees without impairing accuracy.[92] As induction forces provide less damping than liquidfilled designs, a needle lock is fitted to the compass to reduce wear, operated by the folding action of the rear sight/lens holder. The use of air-filled induction compasses has declined over the years, as they may become inoperative or inaccurate in freezing temperatures or extremely humid environments due to condensation or water ingress.[93] Some military compasses, like the U.S. M-1950 (Cammenga 3H) military lensatic compass, the Silva 4b Militaire, and the Suunto M-5N(T) contain the radioactive material tritium (1H3) and a combination of phosphors.[94] The U.S. M-1950 equipped with self-luminous lighting contains 120 mCi (millicuries) of tritium. The purpose of the tritium and phosphors is to provide illumination for the compass, via radioluminescent tritium illumination, which does not require the compass to be "recharged" by sunlight or artificial light.[95] However, tritium has a half-life of only about 12 years,[96] so a compass that contains 120 mCi of tritium when new will contain

only 60 when it is 12 years old, 30 when it is 24 years old, and so on. Consequently, the illumination of the display will fade. Mariner's compasses can have two or more gimbaled magnets permanently attached to a compass card. These move freely on a pivot. A lubber line, which can be a marking on the compass bowl or a small fixed needle indicates the ship's heading on the compass card. Traditionally the card is divided into thirty-two points (known as rhumbs), although modern compasses are marked in degrees rather than cardinal points. The glass-covered box (or bowl) contains a suspended gimbal within a binnacle. This preserves the horizontal position.
Thumb compass Main article: Thumb compass

Thumb compass on left.

A thumb compass is a type of compass commonly used in orienteering, a sport in which map reading and terrain association are paramount. Consequently, most thumb compasses have minimal or no degree markings at all, and are normally used only to orient the map to magnetic north. Thumb compasses are also often transparent so that an orienteer can hold a map in the hand with the compass and see the map through the compass.
Gyrocompass Main article: Gyrocompass

A gyrocompass is similar to a gyroscope. It is a non-magnetic compass that finds true north by using an (electrically powered) fast-spinning wheel and friction forces in order to exploit the rotation of the Earth. Gyrocompasses are widely used on ships. They have two main advantages over magnetic compasses:

they find true north, i.e., the direction of Earth's rotational axis, as opposed to magnetic north, they are not affected by ferromagnetic metal (including iron, steel, cobalt, nickel, and various alloys) in a ship's hull. (No compass is affected by nonferromagnetic metal, although a magnetic compass will be affected by any kind of wires with electric current passing through them.)

Large ships typically rely on a gyrocompass, using the magnetic compass only as a backup. Increasingly, electronic fluxgate compasses are used on smaller vessels. However, magnetic compasses are still widely in use as they can be small, use simple reliable technology, are comparatively cheap, often easier to use than GPS, require no energy supply, and unlike GPS, are not affected by objects, e.g. trees, that can block the reception of electronic signals.
Solid state compasses Main article: Magnetometer

Small compasses found in clocks, mobile phones, and other electronic devices are solid-state compasses, usually built out of two or three magnetic field sensors that provide data for a microprocessor. The correct heading relative to the compass is calculated using trigonometry. Often, the device is a discrete component which outputs either a digital or analog signal proportional to its orientation. This signal is interpreted by a controller or microprocessor and used either internally, or sent to a display unit. The sensor uses highly calibrated internal electronics to measure the response of the device to the Earth's magnetic field. GPS receivers using two or more antennae can now achieve 0.5 in heading accuracy and have startup times in seconds rather than hours for gyrocompass systems. Manufactured primarily for maritime applications, they can also detect pitch and roll of ships.
Specialty compasses

A standard Brunton Geo, used commonly by geologists.

Apart from navigational compases, other specialty compasses have also been designed to accommodate specific uses. These include:

Qibla compass, which is used by Muslims to show the direction to Mecca for prayers. Optical or prismatic hand-bearing compass, most often used by surveyors, but also by cave explorers, foresters, and geologists. This compasses ordinarily uses a liquid-damped capsule[97] and magnetized floating compass dial with an integral optical (direct or lensatic) or prismatic sight, often fitted with built-in photoluminescent or battery-powered illumination.[89] Using the optical or prism sight, such compasses can be read with extreme accuracy when taking bearings

to an object, often to fractions of a degree. Most of these compasses are designed for heavyduty use, with high-quality needles and jeweled bearings, and many are fitted for tripod mounting for additional accuracy.[89] Trough compasses, mounted in a rectangular box whose length was often several times its width, date back several centuries. They were used for land surveying, particularly with plane tables.

Limitations of the magnetic compass

The compass is very stable in areas close to the equator, which is far from "magnetic north". As the compass is moved closer and closer to one of the magnetic poles of the Earth, the compass becomes more sensitive to crossing its magnetic field lines. At some point close to the magnetic pole the compass will not indicate any particular direction but will begin to drift. Also, the needle starts to point up or down when getting closer to the poles, because of the so-called magnetic inclination. Cheap compasses with bad bearings may get stuck because of this and therefore indicate a wrong direction. All magnetic devices are subject to fields other than Earth's, which is not particularly strong. Local environments may contain mineral deposits and human sources such as MRIs. Vehicles may contain ferrous metals, which may pick up their own fields. Cars may be mostly steel, and render simple compasses useless after time. While ships, submarines, and spacecraft may be built from carefully controlled materials, and later degaussed, drivers rarely take such a step. A compass is also subject to errors when the compass is accelerated or decelerated in an airplane or automobile. Depending on which of the Earth's hemispheres the compass is located and if the force is acceleration or deceleration the compass will increase the indicated heading or decrease the indicated heading. Another error of the mechanical compass is turning error. When one turns from a heading of east or west the compass will lag behind the turn or lead ahead of the turn. Magnetometers, and substitutes such as gyrocompasses, are more stable in such situations.

Construction of a compass
Magnetic needle

A magnetic rod is required when constructing a compass. This can be created by aligning an iron or steel rod with Earth's magnetic field and then tempering or striking it. However, this method produces only a weak magnet so other methods are preferred. For example, a magnetised rod can be created by repeatedly rubbing an iron rod with a magnetic lodestone. This magnetised rod (or magnetic needle) is then placed on a low friction surface to allow it to freely pivot to align itself with the magnetic field. It is then labeled so the user can distinguish the north-pointing from the south-pointing end; in modern convention the north end is typically marked in some way.

Needle-and-bowl device

If a needle is rubbed on a lodestone or other magnet, the needle becomes magnetized. When it is inserted in a cork or piece of wood, and placed in a bowl of water it becomes a compass. Such devices were universally used as compass until the invention of the box-like compass with a 'dry' pivoting needle sometime around 1300.
Points of the compass Main article: Boxing the compass

Wrist compass of the Soviet Army with counterclockwise double graduation: 60 (like a watch) and 360.

Originally, many compasses were marked only as to the direction of magnetic north, or to the four cardinal points (north, south, east, west). Later, these were divided, in China into 24, and in Europe into 32 equally spaced points around the compass card. For a table of the thirty-two points, see compass points. In the modern era, the 360-degree system took hold. This system is still in use today for civilian navigators. The degree system spaces 360 equidistant points located clockwise around the compass dial. In the 19th century some European nations adopted the "grad" (also called grade or gon) system instead, where a right angle is 100 grads to give a circle of 400 grads. Dividing grads into tenths to give a circle of 4000 decigrades has also been used in armies. Most military forces have adopted the French "millieme" system. This is an approximation of a milli-radian (6283 per circle), in which the compass dial is spaced into 6400 units or "mils" for additional precision when measuring angles, laying artillery, etc. The value to the military is that one angular mil subtends approximately one metre at a distance of one kilometer. Imperial Russia used a system derived by dividing the circumference of a circle into chords of the same length as the radius. Each of these was divided into 100 spaces, giving a circle of 600. The Soviet Union divided these into tenths to give a circle of 6000 units, usually translated as "mils". This system was adopted by the former Warsaw Pact countries (Soviet Union, GDR etc.), often counterclockwise (see picture of wrist compass). This is still in use in Russia.

Compass balancing (magnetic dip)

Because the Earth's magnetic field's inclination and intensity vary at different latitudes, compasses are often balanced during manufacture so that the dial or needle will be level, eliminating needle drag which can give inaccurate readings. Most manufacturers balance their compass needles for one of five zones, ranging from zone 1, covering most of the Northern Hemisphere, to zone 5 covering Australia and the southern oceans. This individual zone balancing prevents excessive dipping of one end of the needle which can cause the compass card to stick and give false readings.[98] Some compasses feature a special needle balancing system that will accurately indicate magnetic north regardless of the particular magnetic zone. Other magnetic compasses have a small sliding counterweight installed on the needle itself. This sliding counterweight, called a 'rider', can be used for counterbalancing the needle against the dip caused by inclination if the compass is taken to a zone with a higher or lower dip.[98]
Compass correction Main article: Magnetic deviation

A binnacle containing a ship's standard compass, with the two iron balls which correct the effects of ferromagnetic materials. This unit is on display in a museum.

Like any magnetic device, compasses are affected by nearby ferrous materials, as well as by strong local electromagnetic forces. Compasses used for wilderness land navigation should not be used in proximity to ferrous metal objects or electromagnetic fields (car electrical systems, automobile engines, steel pitons, etc.) as that can affect their accuracy.[89] Compasses are particularly difficult to use accurately in or near trucks, cars or other mechanized vehicles even when corrected for deviation by the use of built-in magnets or other devices. Large amounts of ferrous metal combined with the on-and-off electrical fields caused by the vehicle's ignition and charging systems generally result in significant compass errors.

At sea, a ship's compass must also be corrected for errors, called deviation, caused by iron and steel in its structure and equipment. The ship is swung, that is rotated about a fixed point while its heading is noted by alignment with fixed points on the shore. A compass deviation card is prepared so that the navigator can convert between compass and magnetic headings. The compass can be corrected in three ways. First the lubber line can be adjusted so that it is aligned with the direction in which the ship travels, then the effects of permanent magnets can be corrected for by small magnets fitted within the case of the compass. The effect of ferromagnetic materials in the compass's environment can be corrected by two iron balls mounted on either side of the compass binnacle. The coefficient representing the error in the lubber line, while the ferromagnetic effects and the non-ferromagnetic component[further explanation needed]. A similar process is used to calibrate the compass in light general aviation aircraft, with the compass deviation card often mounted permanently just above or below the magnetic compass on the instrument panel. Fluxgate electronic compasses can be calibrated automatically, and can also be programmed with the correct local compass variation so as to indicate the true heading.

Using a compass

Turning the compass scale on the map (D - the local magnetic declination).

When the needle is aligned with and superimposed over the outlined orienting arrow on the bottom of the capsule, the degree figure on the compass ring at the direction-of-travel (DOT) indicator gives the magnetic bearing to the target (mountain).

A magnetic compass points to magnetic north pole, which is approximately 1,000 miles from the true geographic North Pole. A magnetic compass's user can determine true North by finding the magnetic north and then correcting for variation and deviation. Variation is defined as the angle between the direction of true (geographic) north and the direction of the meridian between the magnetic poles. Variation values for most of the oceans had been calculated and published by 1914.[99] Deviation refers to the response of the compass to local magnetic fields caused by the presence of iron and electric currents; one can partly compensate for these by careful location of the compass and the placement of compensating magnets under the compass itself. Mariners have long known that these measures do not completely cancel deviation; hence, they performed an additional step by measuring the compass bearing of a landmark with a known magnetic bearing. They then pointed their ship to the next compass point and measured again, graphing their results. In this way, correction tables could be created, which would be consulted when compasses were used when traveling in those locations. Mariners are concerned about very accurate measurements; however, casual users need not be concerned with differences between magnetic and true North. Except in areas of extreme magnetic declination variance (20 degrees or more), this is enough to protect from walking in a substantially different direction than expected over short distances, provided the terrain is fairly flat and visibility is not impaired. By carefully recording distances (time or paces) and magnetic bearings traveled, one can plot a course and return to one's starting point using the compass alone.[89]

Soldier using a prismatic compass to get an azimuth.

Compass navigation in conjunction with a map (terrain association) requires a different method. To take a map bearing or true bearing (a bearing taken in reference to true, not magnetic north) to a destination with a protractor compass, the edge of the compass is placed on the map so that it connects the current location with the desired destination (some sources recommend physically drawing a line). The orienting lines in the base of the compass dial are then rotated to align with actual or true north by aligning them with a marked line of longitude (or the vertical margin of the map), ignoring the compass needle entirely.[89] The resulting true bearing or map bearing may then be read at the degree indicator or direction-of-travel (DOT) line, which may be followed as an azimuth (course) to the destination. If a magnetic north bearing or compass bearing is desired, the compass must be adjusted by the amount of magnetic declination before using the bearing so that both map and compass are in agreement.[89] In the given example, the large mountain in the second photo was selected as the target destination on the map. Some compasses allow the scale to be adjusted to compensate for the local magnetic declination; if adjusted correctly, the compass will give the true bearing instead of the magnetic bearing. The modern hand-held protractor compass always has an additional direction-of-travel (DOT) arrow or indicator inscribed on the baseplate. To check one's progress along a course or azimuth, or to ensure that the object in view is indeed the destination, a new compass reading may be taken to the target if visible (here, the large mountain). After pointing the DOT arrow on the baseplate at the target, the compass is oriented so that the needle is superimposed over the orienting arrow in the capsule. The resulting bearing indicated is the magnetic bearing to the target. Again, if one is using "true" or map bearings, and the compass does not have preset, preadjusted declination, one must additionally add or subtract magnetic declination to convert the magnetic bearing into a true bearing. The exact value of the magnetic declination is placedependent and varies over time, though declination is frequently given on the map itself or obtainable on-line from various sites. If the hiker has been following the correct path, the compass' corrected (true) indicated bearing should closely correspond to the true bearing previously obtained from the map. A compass should be laid down on a level surface so that the needle only rests or hangs on the bearing fused to the compass casing - if used at a tilt, the needle might touch the casing on the compass and not move freely, hence not pointing to the magnetic north accurately, giving a faulty reading. To see if the needle is well leveled, look closely at the needle, and tilt it slightly to see if the needle is swaying side to side freely and the needle is not contacting the casing of the compass. If the needle tilts to one direction, tilt the compass slightly and gently to the opposing direction until the compass needle is horizontal, lengthwise. Items to avoid around compasses are magnets of any kind and any electronics. Magnetic fields from electronics can easily disrupt the needle, avoiding it from pointing with the earth's magnetic fields, causing interference. The earth's natural magnetic forces are considerably weak, measuring at 0.5 Gauss and magnetic fields from household electronics can easily exceed it, overpowering the compass needle. Exposure to strong magnets, or magnetic interference can sometimes cause the magnetic poles of the compass needle to differ or even reverse. Avoid iron rich deposits when using a compass, for example, certain rocks which contain magnetic minerals, like Magnetite. This is often indicated by a rock with a surface which is dark and has a metallic luster, not all magnetic mineral bearing rocks have this indication. To see if a rock or an area is causing interference on a compass, get

out of the area, and see if the needle on the compass moves. If it does, it means that the area or rock the compass was previously at/on is causing interference and should be avoided.

Surveying

US Navy Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument

Table of Surveying, 1728 Cyclopaedia

Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them, commonly practiced by licensed surveyors, and members of various building professions. These points are usually on the surface of the Earth, and they are often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership, locations (building corners, surface location of subsurface features) or other governmentally required or civil law purposes (property sales). To accomplish their objective, surveyors use elements of mathematics (geometry and trigonometry), physics, engineering and law. An alternative definition, from the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), is the science and art of making all essential measurements to determine the relative position of points or physical and cultural details above, on, or beneath the surface of the Earth, and to depict them in a usable form, or to establish the position of points or details. Furthermore, as alluded to above, a particular type of surveying known as "land surveying" (also per ACSM) is the detailed study or inspection, as by gathering information through observations, measurements in the field, questionnaires, or research of legal instruments, and data analysis in the support of planning, designing, and establishing of property boundaries. It involves the reestablishment of cadastral surveys and land boundaries based on documents of record and historical evidence, as well as certifying surveys (as required by statute or local ordinance) of

subdivision plats or maps, registered land surveys, judicial surveys, and space delineation. Land surveying can include associated services such as mapping and related data accumulation, construction layout surveys, precision measurements of length, angle, elevation, area, and volume, as well as horizontal and vertical control surveys, and the analysis and utilization of land survey data. Surveyors use various tools to do their work successfully and accurately, such as total stations, robotic total stations, GPS receivers, prisms, 3D scanners, radio communicators, handheld tablets, digital levels, and surveying software. Surveying has been an essential element in the development of the human environment since the beginning of recorded history (about 6,000 years ago). It is required in the planning and execution of nearly every form of construction. Its most familiar modern uses are in the fields of transport, building and construction, communications, mapping, and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership.

Contents

1 History of surveying 2 Surveying techniques 3 Surveying equipment 4 Types of surveys and applicability 5 Surveying as a career o 5.1 Licensing o 5.2 Building surveying 6 Land surveyor o 6.1 The art of surveying 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History of surveying

Surveying students with professor at the Helsinki University of Technology in the late 19th century.

Surveying techniques have existed throughout much of recorded history. In ancient Egypt, when the Nile River overflowed its banks and washed out farm boundaries, boundaries were reestablished by a rope stretcher, or surveyor, through the application of simple geometry. The nearly perfect squareness and north-south orientation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built c. 2700 BC, affirm the Egyptians' command of surveying. A brief history of surveying:

The Egyptian land register (3000 BC). A recent reassessment of Stonehenge (c. 2500 BC) suggests that the monument was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry.[1] The Groma surveying instrument originated in Mesopotamia (early 1st millennium BC).[2] Under the Romans, land surveyors were established as a profession, and they established the basic measurements under which the Roman Empire was divided, such as a tax register of conquered lands (300 AD).[3] The rise of the Caliphate led to extensive surveying throughout the Arab Empire. Arabic surveyors invented a variety of specialized instruments for surveying, including:[4][not in citation given] o Instruments for accurate leveling: A wooden board with a plumb line and two hooks, an equilateral triangle with a plumb line and two hooks, and a reed level. o A rotating alhidade, used for accurate alignment. o A surveying astrolabe, used for alignment, measuring angles, triangulation, finding the width of a river, and the distance between two points separated by an impassable obstruction. In England, The Domesday Book by William the Conqueror (1086) o Covered all England o Contained names of the land owners, area, land quality, and specific information of the area's content and inhabitants. o Did not include maps showing exact locations.

In the 18th century in Europe triangulation was used to build a hierarchy of networks to allow point positioning within a country. Highest in the hierarchy were triangulation networks. These were densified into networks of traverses (polygons), into which local mapping surveying measurements, usually with measuring tape, corner prism and the familiar red and white poles, are tied. For example, in the late 1780s, a team from the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, originally under General William Roy began the Principal Triangulation of Britain using the specially built Ramsden theodolite. Large scale surveys are known as geodetic surveys.

Continental Europe's cadastre was created in 1808 o Founded by Napoleon I (Bonaparte) o Contained numbers of the parcels of land (or just land), land usage, names etc., and value of the land o 100 million parcels of land, triangle survey, measurable survey, map scale: 1:2500 and 1:1250

spread fast around Europe, but faced problems especially in Mediterranean countries, Balkan, and Eastern Europe due to cadastre upkeep costs and troubles.

A cadastre loses its value if register and maps are not constantly updated. Because of the fundamental value of land and real estate to the local and global economy, land surveying was one of the first professions to require Professional Licensure. In many jurisdictions, the land surveyors license was the first Professional Licensure issued by the state, province, or federal government.

Surveying techniques

A standard Brunton Geo compass, still used commonly today by geographers, geologists and surveyors for field-based measurements

Example of modern equipment for surveying (Field-Map technology): GPS, laser rangefinder and field computer allows surveying as well as cartography (creation of map in real-time) and field data collection.

Historically, distances were measured using a variety of means, such as with chains having links of a known length, for instance a Gunter's chain, or measuring tapes made of steel or invar. To measure horizontal distances, these chains or tapes were pulled taut according to temperature, to reduce sagging and slack. Additionally, attempts to hold the measuring instrument level would be made. In instances of measuring up a slope, the surveyor might have to "break" (break chain) the measurement- use an increment less than the total length of the chain. Historically, horizontal angles were measured using a compass, which would provide a magnetic bearing, from which deflections could be measured. This type of instrument was later improved, with more carefully scribed discs providing better angular resolution, as well as through mounting telescopes with reticles for more-precise sighting atop the disc (see theodolite). Additionally, levels and calibrated circles allowing measurement of vertical angles were added, along with verniers for measurement to a fraction of a degreesuch as with a turn-of-thecentury transit. The simplest method for measuring height is with an altimeter basically a barometer using air pressure as an indication of height. But surveying requires greater precision. A variety of means, such as precise levels (also known as differential leveling), have been developed to do this. With precise leveling, a series of measurements between two points are taken using an instrument and a measuring rod. Differentials in height between the measurements are added and subtracted in a series to derive the net difference in elevation between the two endpoints of the series. With the advent of the Global Positioning System (GPS), elevation can also be derived with sophisticated satellite receivers, but usually with somewhat less accuracy than with traditional precise leveling. However, the accuracies may be similar if the traditional leveling would have to be run over a long distance. Triangulation is another method of horizontal location made almost obsolete by GPS. With the triangulation method, distances, elevations and directions between objects at great distance from one another can be determined. Since the early days of surveying, this was the primary method of determining accurate positions of objects for topographic maps of large areas. A surveyor first needs to know the horizontal distance between two of the objects. Then the height, distances and angular position of other objects can be derived, as long as they are visible from one of the original objects. High-accuracy transits or theodolites were used for this work, and angles between objects were measured repeatedly for increased accuracy. See also Triangulation in three dimensions. Turning is a term used when referring to moving the level to take an elevation shot in a different location. When land surveying, there may be trees or other obstructions blocking the view from the level gun to the level rod. In order to "turn" the level gun, one must first take a shot on the rod from the current location and record the elevation. Keeping the level rod in exactly the same location and elevation, one may move the level gun to a different location where the level rod is still visible. Record the new elevation seen from the new location of the level rod and use the difference in elevations to find the new elevation of the level gun. Turning is not only used when there are obstructions in the way, but also when drastically changing elevations. You can turn up or down in elevation but the gun must always be at a higher elevation than the base of the rod. A level rod can usually be raised up to 25 feet high, which enables the gun to be set much higher.

However, if the gun is lower than the base of the rod, you will not be able to take a shot because the rod cannot be lowered beyond the ground elevation.

Surveying equipment

A German engineer surveying during the First World War, 1918

As late as the 1990s, the basic tools used in planar surveying were a tape measure for determining shorter distances, a level to determine height or elevation differences, and a theodolite, set on a tripod, to measure angles (horizontal and vertical), combined with the process of triangulation. Starting from a position with known location and elevation, the distance and angles to the unknown point are measured. A more modern instrument is a total station, which is a theodolite with an electronic distance measurement device (EDM). A total station can also be used for leveling when set to the horizontal plane. Since their introduction, total stations have made the technological shift from being optical-mechanical devices to being fully electronic. Modern top-of-the-line total stations no longer require a reflector or prism (used to return the light pulses used for distancing) to return distance measurements, are fully robotic, and can even e-mail point data to the office computer and connect to satellite positioning systems, such as a Global Positioning System. Though Real Time Kinematic GPS systems have increased the speed and precision of surveying, they are still horizontally accurate to only about 20 mm and vertically accurate to about 3040 mm.[5] Total stations are still used widely, along with other types of surveying instruments, however, because GPS systems do not work well in areas with dense tree cover or constructions. Oneperson robotic-guided total stations allow surveyors to gather precise measurements without extra workers to look through and turn the telescope or record data. A faster but expensive way to measure large areas (not details, and no obstacles) is with a helicopter, equipped with a laser scanner, combined with a GPS to determine the position and elevation of the helicopter. To increase precision, surveyors place beacons on the ground (about 20 km (12 mi) apart). This method reaches precisions between 540 cm (depending on flight height).[6]

Types of surveys and applicability

ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey: a surveying standard jointly proposed by the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping that incorporates elements of the boundary survey, mortgage survey, and topographic survey. Archaeological survey: used to accurately assess the relationship of archaeological sites in a landscape or to accurately record finds on an archaeological site. As-built survey: a survey carried out during or immediately after a construction project for record, completion evaluation and payment purposes. An as-built survey also known as a 'works as executed survey' documents the location of the recently constructed elements that are subject to completion evaluation. As built surveys are typically presented in red or redline and overlayed over existing design plans for direct comparison with design information. Bathymetric survey: a survey carried out to map the topography and features of the bed of an ocean, lake, river or other body of water. Boundary survey: a survey that establishes boundaries of a parcel using its legal description, which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or asphalt. Deformation survey: a survey to determine if a structure or object is changing shape or moving. The three-dimensional positions of specific points on an object are determined, a period of time is allowed to pass, these positions are then re-measured and calculated, and a comparison between the two sets of positions is made. Engineering surveys: those surveys associated with the engineering design (topographic, layout and as-built) often requiring geodetic computations beyond normal civil engineering practice. Foundation survey: a survey done to collect the positional data on a foundation that has been poured and is cured. This is done to ensure that the foundation was constructed in the location, and at the elevation, authorized in the plot plan, site plan, or subdivision plan. Geological survey: generic term for a survey conducted for the purpose of recording the geologically significant features of the area under investigation. . Hydrographic survey: a survey conducted with the purpose of mapping the coastline and seabed for navigation, engineering, or resource management purposes. Measured survey : a building survey to produce plans of the building. such a survey may be conducted before renovation works, for commercial purpose, or at end of the construction process "as built survey" Mortgage survey or physical survey: a simple survey that delineates land boundaries and building locations. In many places a mortgage survey is required by lending institutions as a precondition for a mortgage loan. Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of determining the soil types or other properties of the soil cover over a landscape, and mapping them for others to understand and use. Structural survey: a detailed inspection to report upon the physical condition and structural stability of a building or other structure and to highlight any work needed to maintain it in good repair. Tape survey: this type of survey is the most basic and inexpensive type of land survey. Popular in the middle part of the 20th century, tape surveys while being accurate for distance lack substantially in their accuracy of measuring angle and bearing standards that are practiced by professional land surveyors.

Topographic survey: a survey that measures the elevation of points on a particular piece of land, and presents them as contour lines on a plot.

Surveying as a career
See also: Geomatics

The pundit (explorer) cartographer Nain Singh Rawat (19th century) received a Royal Geographical Society gold medal in 1876, for his efforts in exploring The Himalayas for the British

An all-female surveying crew in Idaho, 1918

The basic principles of surveying have changed little over the ages, but the tools used by surveyors have evolved tremendously. Engineering, especially civil engineering, depends heavily on surveyors.

Whenever there are roads, railways, reservoir, dams, pipeline transports retaining walls, bridges or residential areas to be built, surveyors are involved. They establish the boundaries of legal descriptions and the boundaries of various lines of political divisions. They also provide advice and data for geographical information systems (GIS), computer databases that contain data on land features and boundaries. Surveyors must have a thorough knowledge of algebra, basic calculus, geometry, and trigonometry. They must also know the laws that deal with surveys, property, and contracts. In addition, they must be able to use delicate instruments with accuracy and precision. In the United States, surveyors and civil engineers use units of feet wherein a survey foot is broken down into 10ths and 100ths. Many deed descriptions requiring distance calls are often expressed using these units (125.25 ft). On the subject of accuracy, surveyors are often held to a standard of one one-hundredth of a foot; about 1/8 inch. Calculation and mapping tolerances are much smaller wherein achieving near-perfect closures are desired. Though tolerances such as this will vary from project to project, in the field and day to day usage beyond a 100th of a foot is often impractical.
Licensing

In most of the United States, surveying is recognized as a distinct profession apart from engineering. Licensing requirements vary by state, but they generally have components of education, experience and examinations. In the past, experience gained through an apprenticeship, together with passing a series of state-administered examinations, was required to attain licensure. Now, most states insist upon basic qualification of a degree in surveying, plus experience and examination requirements. The licensing process typically follows two phases. First, upon graduation, the candidate may be eligible to take the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) exam, to be certified upon passing and meeting all other requirements as a surveying intern (SI),(formerly surveyor in training (SIT)). Upon being certified as an SI, the candidate then needs to gain additional experience to become eligible for the second phase. That typically consists of the Principles and Practice of Land Surveying (PS) exam along with a state-specific examination. Licensed surveyors usually denote themselves with the letters P.L.S. (professional land surveyor), P.S. (professional surveyor), L.S. (land surveyor), R.L.S. (registered land surveyor), R.P.L.S. (Registered Professional Land Surveyor), or P.S.M. (professional surveyor and mapper) following their names, depending upon the dictates of their particular jurisdiction of registration. In Canada, land Surveyors are registered to work in their respective province. The designation for a land surveyor breaks down by province, but follows the rule whereby the first letter indicates the province, followed by L.S. There is also a designation as a C.L.S. or Canada lands surveyor, who has the authority to work on Canada Lands, which include Indian Reserves, National Parks, the three territories and offshore lands.

In many Commonwealth countries, the term Chartered Land Surveyor is used for someone holding a professional license to conduct surveys. A licensed land surveyor is typically required to sign and seal all plans, the format of which is dictated by their state jurisdiction, which shows their name and registration number. In many states, when setting boundary corners land surveyors are also required to place survey monuments bearing their registration numbers, typically in the form of capped iron rods, concrete monuments, or nails with washers.
Building surveying It has been suggested that Construction surveying#Professional status of construction surveyors be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2011.

Building surveying emerged in the 1970s as a profession in the United Kingdom by a group of technically minded general practice surveyors.[7] Building surveying is a recognised profession in Britain, Ireland, Australia and Hong Kong. In Australia in particular, due to risk mitigation and limitation factors, the employment of surveyors at all levels of the construction industry is widespread. There are still many countries where it is not widely recognized as a profession. Building Surveyors are trained to some extent in all aspects of property but with specific training in Building Pathology, as such they have a wide understanding of the end implications of decisions taken by more specific professions and trades during the realisation process, thus making them suitable for employment as Project and Property Managers on the client side (i.e. managing external contractors). Services that building surveyors undertake are broad but can include:

Construction design and building works Project management and monitoring Property Legislation advice Insurance assessment and claims assistance Defect investigation and maintenance advice Building surveys and measured surveys Handling planning applications Building inspection to ensure compliance with building regulations Pre-acquisition surveys Negotiating dilapidations claims[8]

Building surveyors also advise on many aspects of construction including:

design cost maintenance sustainability repair

refurbishment restoration and preservation of buildings and monuments[9]

Clients of a building surveyor can be the government agencies, businesses and individuals. Surveyors work closely with architects, planners, quantity surveyors, engineers, homeowners and tenants groups. A building surveyor may be called to act as an expert witness. It is usual for building surveyors to earn a university degree before undertaking structured training to become a member of a professional organisation. With the enlargement of the European community, the profession of the building surveyor is becoming more widely known in other European states, particularly France,[10] where many English-speaking people buy second homes. Lidar Surveying Three-dimensional laser scanning provides high definition surveying for architectural, as-built, and engineering surveys. Recent technological advances make it the most cost-effective and time-sensitive solution[citation needed] for providing the highest level of detail available for interior and exterior building work.

Land surveyor
One of the primary roles of the land surveyor is to determine the boundary of real property on the ground. That boundary has already been established and described in legal documents and official plans and maps prepared by attorneys, engineers, and other land surveyors. The corners of the property will either have been monumented by a prior surveyor, or monumented by the surveyor hired to perform a survey of a new boundary which has been agreed upon by adjoining land owners. Monuments are categorized into two groups which are known as natural and artificial. Natural monuments are things such as trees, large stones and other substantial, naturally occurring objects that were in place before the survey was made. An artificial monument is anything within the regulations that are usually placed at corner points by landowners, surveyors, engineers and others. They may be referred to as iron pins or pipes, stakes, trees, concrete monuments or whatever the surveyor decides to use at the time, within the regulations for the area. The courts have held that natural monuments control over artificial monuments because they are more certain in identification and less likely to be disturbed.[11] Over time, construction and maintenance of roads and many other acts of man, along with acts of nature such as earthquakes, movement of water, and tectonic shift can obliterate or damage the monumented locations of land boundaries. The land surveyor is often compelled to consider other evidence such as fence locations, wood lines, monuments on neighboring properties and recollections of people. This other evidence is known as Extrinsic Evidence and is a fairly common principle. Extrinsic evidence is defined as evidence outside the writings, in this case the deed. Extrinsic evidence is held to be synonymous with evidence from another source.[12] Today's land surveyor sets monumentation at actual physical points on the ground that define angle points of boundary lines that divide neighboring parcels. These monuments are most often

1/2" or 5/8" iron rebar rods or pipes placed at 18" minimum depth, but varies state by state. The more recent rods or pipes may have an affixed plastic cap over the top bearing the responsible surveyors' name and license number. Older monuments may exist such as old pipes, gun barrels, axles, mounds of stone, whiskey bottles, or even wooden stakes. In addition to rods and pipes, surveyors might use 4x4" concrete posts at corners of large parcels or anywhere that would require more stability (e.g. beach sand). They place them three feet deep. In places where there is asphalt or concrete, it is common to place nails or aluminum alloy caps to re-establish boundary corners. Marks are meant to be durable, stable, and as "permanent" as possible. The aim is to provide sufficient marks so some marks will remain for future re-establishment of boundaries. The material and marking used on monuments placed to mark boundary corners are often subject to state laws. Many states have laws that protect existing monuments and can have civil penalties if disturbed or destroyed.

F.V. Hayden's map of Yellowstone National Park, 1871. His surveys were a significant factor toward establishing the park in 1872.

Cadastral land surveyors are licensed by governments. In the United States, cadastral surveys are typically conducted by the federal government, specifically through the Cadastral Surveys branch of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), formerly the General Land Office (GLO).[13] They consult with USFS, Park Service, Corps of Engineers, BIA, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, etc. In states that have been organized per the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), surveyors carry out BLM Cadastral Surveys in accordance with that system. A common use of a survey is to determine a legal property boundary. The first stage in such a survey, known as a resurvey, is to obtain copies of the deed description and all other available documents from the owner. The deed description is that of the deed and not a tax statement or other incomplete document. The surveyor should then obtain copies of deed descriptions and maps of the adjoining properties, any records from the municipality or county, utility maps and any records of surveys. Depending on which region the survey is located in some or most of this

information may not be available or even exist. Whether the information exists or not a thorough search should be conducted so that no records are neglected. Copies of deeds usually can be located in the county recorder's office and maps or plats can usually be found at the county recorder or surveyor's office. These arrangements will vary state to state and survey system to survey system so some familiarity maybe needed. When all the records are assembled, the surveyor examines the documents for errors, such as closure errors. When a metes and bounds description is involved, the seniority of the deeds must be determined. The title abstract usually gives the order of seniority for the deeds related to the tract being surveyed and should be used if available. After this data is gathered and analyzed the field survey may commence. The initial survey operations should be concentrated on locating monuments. In urban regions or a city, monuments should be sought initially but in the absence of monuments property corners marked by iron pins, metal survey markers, iron pipes and other features that may establish a line of possession should be located. When the approximate positions for the boundaries of the property have been located a traverse is run around the property. While the control traverse is being run, ties should be measured and all details relevant to the boundaries should be acquired. This includes but is not limited to locating the property corners, monuments, fences, hedge rows, walls, walks and all buildings on the lot. The Surveyor then takes this data collected and compares it to the records that were received. When a solution is reached the property corners that are chosen as those that best fit all the data are coordinated and ties by direction and distance are computed from the nearest traverse point. Once this has been established the features on the lot can be drawn, dimensions can be shown from these features to the boundary line and a map or plat is prepared for the client.[14]
The art of surveying

Many properties have considerable problems with regards to improper bounding, miscalculations in past surveys, titles, easements, and wildlife crossings. Also many properties are created from multiple divisions of a larger piece over the course of years, and with every additional division the risk of miscalculation increases. The result can be abutting properties not coinciding with adjacent parcels, resulting in hiatuses (gaps) and overlaps. Many times a surveyor must solve a puzzle using pieces that do not exactly fit together. In these cases, the solution is based upon the surveyor's research and interpretation, along with established procedures for resolving discrepancies. This essentially is a process of continual error correction and update, where official recordation documents countermand the previous and sometime erroneous survey documents recorded by older monuments and older survey methods.[citation needed]

Graphics tablet

Wacom Bamboo Capture tablet and pen

A graphics tablet or digitizer is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures. It can also be used to trace an image from a piece of paper which is taped or otherwise secured to the surface. Capturing data in this way, either by tracing or entering the corners of linear poly-lines or shapes is called digitizing. The device consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" or trace an image using an attached stylus, a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image generally does not appear on the tablet itself but, rather, is displayed on the computer monitor. Some tablets are intended as a general replacement for a mouse as the primary pointing and navigation device for desktop computers.

Contents

1 History 2 Operation 3 Styli o 3.1 Puck 4 Embedded LCD tablets 5 Uses 6 Manufacturers 7 Similar devices 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History
The first electronic handwriting tablet was the Telautograph, patented by Elisha Gray in 1888.[1] Elisha Gray is best known as a contemporaneous inventor of the telephone to Alexander Graham Bell. The first graphics tablet resembling contemporary tablets and used for handwriting recognition by a computer was the Stylator in 1957.[2] Better known (and often mis-stated as the first digitizer tablet) is the RAND Tablet[3] also known as the Grafacon[4] (for Graphic Converter), introduced in 1964. The RAND Tablet employed a grid of wires under the surface of the pad that encoded horizontal and vertical coordinates in a small magnetic signal. The stylus would receive the magnetic signal, which could then be decoded back as coordinate information. The acoustic tablet, or spark tablet, used a stylus that generated clicks with a spark plug. The clicks were then triangulated by a series of microphones to locate the pen in space.[5] The system was fairly complex and expensive, and the sensors were susceptible to interference by external noise.

Digitizers were popularized in the mid 1970s and early 1980s by the commercial success of the ID (Intelligent Digitizer) and BitPad manufactured by the Summagraphics Corp. These digitizers were used as the input device for many high-end CAD (Computer Aided Design) systems as well as bundled with PC's and PC based CAD software like AutoCAD. Summagraphics also made an OEM version of its BitPad which was sold by Apple Computer as the Apple Graphics Tablet accessory to their Apple II. These tablets used a magnetostriction technology which used wires made of a special alloy stretched over a solid substrate to accurately locate the tip of a stylus or the center of a digitizer cursor on the surface of the tablet. This technology also allowed Proximity or "Z" axis measurement. The first home computer graphics tablet was the KoalaPad. Though originally designed for the Apple II, the Koala eventually broadened its applicability to practically all home computers with graphics support, examples of which include the TRS-80 Color Computer, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit family. Competing tablets were eventually produced; the tablets produced by Atari were generally considered to be of high quality. In 1981, musician Todd Rundgren created the first color graphics tablet software for personal computers, which was licensed to Apple as the Utopia Graphics Tablet System.[6] In the 1980s, several vendors of graphics tablets began to include additional functions, such as handwriting recognition and on-tablet menus.[7][8]

Operation
There have been many attempts to categorize the technologies that have been used for graphics tablets:
Passive tablets Passive tablets,[9] most notably those by Wacom, make use of electromagnetic induction technology, where the horizontal and vertical wires of the tablet operate as both transmitting and receiving coils (as opposed to the wires of the RAND Tablet which only transmit). The tablet generates an electromagnetic signal, which is received by the LC circuit in the stylus. The wires in the tablet then change to a receiving mode and read the signal generated by the stylus. Modern arrangements also provide pressure sensitivity and one or more switches (similar to the buttons on a mouse), with the electronics for this information present in the stylus itself, not the tablet. On older tablets, changing the pressure on the stylus nib or pressing a switch changed the properties of the LC circuit, affecting the signal generated by the pen, which modern ones often encode into the signal as a digital data stream. By using electromagnetic signals, the tablet is able to sense the stylus position without the stylus having to even touch the surface, and powering the pen with this signal means that devices used with the tablet never need batteries. Activslate 50, the model used with Promethean Ltd white boards, also uses a hybrid of this technology.[10]

Active tablets Active tablets differ in that the stylus used contains self-powered electronics that generate and transmit a signal to the tablet. These styli rely on an internal battery rather than the tablet for their power, resulting in a bulkier stylus. Eliminating the need to power the pen means that such tablets may listen for pen signals constantly, as they do not have to alternate between transmit and receive modes, which can result in less jitter. Optical tablets Optical tablets operate by a very small digital camera in the stylus, and then doing pattern matching on the image of the paper. The most successful example is the technology developed by Anoto. Acoustic tablets Early models were described as spark tabletsa small sound generator was mounted in the stylus, and the acoustic signal picked up by two microphones placed near the writing surface. Some modern designs are able to read positions in three dimensions.[11][12] Electromagnetic tablets Wacom's are one example of a graphics tablet that works by generating and detecting an electromagnetic signal: in the Wacom design, the signal is generated by the pen, and detected by a grid of wires in the tablet. Other designs such as those by Pencept generate a signal in the grid of wires in the tablet, and detect it in the pen. Capacitive tablets These tablets have also been designed to use an electrostatic or capacitive signal. Scriptel's designs are one example of a high-performance tablet detecting an electrostatic signal. Unlike the type of capacitive design used for touchscreens, the Scriptel design is able to detect the position of the pen while it is in proximity to, or hovering above, the tablet. Many multi-touch tablets use capacitive sensing.[13][14]

For all these technologies, the tablet can use the received signal to also determine the distance of the stylus from the surface of the tablet, the tilt (angle from vertical) of the stylus, and other information in addition to the horizontal and vertical positions. Compared to touch-sensitive touchscreens, a graphics tablet generally offers much higher precision, the ability to track an object which is not touching the tablet, and can gather much more information about the stylus, but is typically more expensive, and can only be used with the special stylus or other accessories.

Some tablets, especially inexpensive ones aimed at young children, come with a corded stylus, using technology similar to older RAND tablets, although this design is no longer used on any normal tablets.

Styli
Puck

After styli, pucks are the most commonly used tablet accessory. A puck is a mouse-like device that can detect its absolute position and rotation. This is opposed to mice, which can only sense their relative velocity on a surface (most tablet drivers are capable of allowing a puck to emulate a mouse in operation, and many pucks are marketed as "mice".) Pucks range in size and shape, some are externally indistinguishable from a mouse, while others are fairly large device with dozens of buttons and controls. Professional pucks often have a reticle or loupe which allows the user to see the exact point on the tablet's surface targeted by the puck, for detailed tracing and computer aided design (CAD) work.

Embedded LCD tablets

Some graphics tablets incorporate an LCD into the tablet itself, allowing the user to draw directly on the display surface.[15] Graphics tablet/screen hybrids offer advantages over both touch screens and ordinary tablets. Unlike touch screens, they offer pressure sensitivity, and their resolution is generally higher.[citation needed] While their pressure sensitivity and resolution are typically no better than those of ordinary tablets, they offer the additional advantage of directly seeing the location of the physical pen device relatively to the image on the screen. This often allows for increased accuracy and a more tactile, "real" feeling to the use of the device. Wacom holds many patents on the key technologies for graphic tablets,[16] which forces competitors to use other technologies or license Wacom's. The displays are often sold for thousands of dollars. For instance, the Wacom Cintiq series ranges from just below US$1,000 to over US$2,000. Some commercially available graphics tablet-screen hybrids include:

Bosto Kingtee Cintiq from Wacom Hitachi Starboard Yiynova's DP10 and MSP19 products USync's PenStar products SenTIP from Hanvon The GD Itronix "Duo Touch" tablet PC products The p-active XPC-1710a and XPC-1910a

There have also been do it yourself projects where conventional used LCD monitors and graphics tablets have been converted to a graphics tablet-screen hybrid.[17][18]

Uses
Graphics tablets, because of their stylus-based interface and ability to detect some or all of pressure, tilt, and other attributes of the stylus and its interaction with the tablet, are widely considered[according to whom?] to offer a very natural way to create computer graphics, especially two-dimensional computer graphics. Indeed, many graphics packages can make use of the pressure (and, sometimes, stylus tilt or rotation) information generated by a tablet, by modifying the brush size, shape, opacity, color, or other attributes based on data received from the graphics tablet. In East Asia, graphics tablets, known as "pen tablets", are widely used in conjunction with inputmethod editor software (IMEs) to write Chinese, Japanese, Korean characters (CJK). The technology is popular and inexpensive and offers a method for interacting with the computer in a more natural way than typing on the keyboard, with the pen tablet supplanting the role of the computer mouse. Uptake of handwriting recognition among users who use alphabetic scripts has been slower. Graphics tablets are also very commonly found in the artistic world. Using a pen on a graphics tablet combined with a graphics-editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop, gives artists a lot of precision while creating digital drawings. Photographers can also find working with a graphics tablet during their post processing can really speed up tasks like creating a detailed layer mask or dodging and burning. Educators make use of tablets in classrooms to project handwritten notes or lessons and to allow students to do the same, as well as providing feedback on student work submitted electronically. Online teachers may also use a tablet for marking student work, or for live tutorials or lessons, especially where complex visual information or mathematical equations are required. Tablets are also popular for technical drawings and CAD, as one can typically put a piece of paper on them without interfering with their function. Finally, tablets are gaining popularity as a replacement for the computer mouse as a pointing device.[when?] They can feel more intuitive to some users than a mouse, as the position of a pen on a tablet typically corresponds to the location of the pointer on the GUI shown on the computer screen. Those artists using a pen for graphics work will as a matter of convenience use a tablet and pen for standard computer operations rather than put down the pen and find a mouse. Graphics tablets are available in various sizes and price ranges; A6-sized tablets being relatively inexpensive and A3-sized tablets far more expensive. Modern tablets usually connect to the computer via a USB interface.

Ruler

A variety of rulers

A 2-meter carpenter's rule

Retractable flexible rule or tape measure

A closeup of a steel rule

A ruler, sometimes called a rule or line gauge, is an instrument used in geometry, technical drawing, printing as well as engineering and building to measure distances or to rule straight lines. The ruler is a straightedge which may also contain calibrated lines to measure distances.[1]

Contents

1 Types 2 Ruler applications in geometry 3 History 4 Curved and flexible rulers 5 Philosophy 6 Sticking to the Ruler's Marks 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links

Types
Rulers have long been made of many materials in a wide range of sizes. Some are wooden. Plastics have also been used since they were invented; they can be molded with length markings instead of being scribed. Metal is used for more durable rulers for use in the workshop;

sometimes a metal edge is embedded into a wooden desk ruler to preserve the edge when used for straight-line cutting. 12 inches or 30 cm in length is useful for a ruler to be kept on a desk to help in drawing. Shorter rulers are convenient for keeping in a pocket.[2] Longer rulers, e.g., 18 inches (45 cm) are necessary in some cases. Rigid wooden or plastic yardsticks, 1 yard long and meter sticks, 1 meter long, are also used. Classically, long measuring rods were used for larger projects, now superseded by tape measure or laser rangefinders. Desk rulers are used for three main purposes: to measure, to aid in drawing straight lines and as a straight guide for cutting and scoring with a blade. Practical rulers have distance markings along their edges. A type of ruler used in the printing industry is called a line gauge. These may be made from a variety of materials, typically metal or clear plastic. Units of measurement on a basic line gauge usually include inches, agate, picas, and points. More detailed line gauges may contain sample widths of lines, samples of common type in several point sizes, etc. Measuring instruments similar in function to rulers are made portable by folding (carpenter's folding rule) or retracting into a coil (metal tape measure) when not in use. When extended for use they are straight, like a ruler. The illustrations on this page show a 2-meter carpenter's rule which folds down to a length of 24 cm to easily fit in a pocket, and a 5-meter-long tape which retracts into a small housing. A flexible length measuring instrument which is not necessarily straight in use is the tailor's fabric tape measure, a length of tape calibrated in inches and centimeters. It is used to measure around a solid body, e.g., a person's waist measurement, as well as linear measurement, e.g., inside leg. It is rolled up when not in use, taking up little space. A contraction rule is made having larger divisions than standard measures to allow for shrinkage of a metal casting. They may also be known as a 'shrinkage or shrink rule.[3] A ruler software program can be used to measure pixels on a computer screen.

Ruler applications in geometry

Main article: Compass and straightedge

In geometry, a ruler without any marks on it (a straightedge) may be used only for drawing straight lines between points. A straightedge is also used to help draw accurate graphs and tables. A ruler and compass construction refers to constructions using an unmarked ruler and a compass. It is possible to bisect an angle into two equal parts with ruler and compass. It can be proved, though, that it is impossible to divide an angle into three equal parts using only a compass and straightedge the problem of angle trisection. However, should two marks be allowed on the ruler, the problem becomes solvable.

History

A wooden carpenter's rule and other tools found on board the 16th century carrack Mary Rose

Rulers made of Ivory were in use by the Indus Valley Civilization period prior to 1500 BC.[4] Excavations at Lothal (2400 BC) have yielded one such ruler calibrated to about 116 inches (1.6 millimetres).[4] Ian Whitelaw holds that the Mohenjo-Daro ruler is divided into units corresponding to 1.32 inches (33.5 millimetres) and these are marked out in decimal subdivisions with amazing accuracy, to within 0.005 inches (0.13 millimetres). Ancient bricks found throughout the region have dimensions that correspond to these units.[5] Anton Ullrich invented the folding ruler in 1851.

Curved and flexible rulers

The equivalent of a ruler for drawing or reproducing a smooth curve is known, where it takes the form of a rigid template, as a French curve. A flexible device which can be bent to the desired shape is known as a flat spline, or (in its more modern incarnation) a flexible curve. Historically, a flexible lead rule used by masons that could be bent to the curves of a molding was known as a lesbian rule.[6]

Philosophy
Ludwig Wittgenstein famously used rulers as an example in his discussion of language games in the Philosophical Investigations. He pointed out that the standard meter bar in Paris was the criterion against which all other rulers were determined to be one meter long, but that there was no analytical way to demonstrate that the standard meter bar itself was one meter long. It could only be asserted as one meter as part of a language game.

Sticking to the Ruler's Marks

When using a ruler use the smallest mark as the first estimated digit. For example if a ruler's smallest mark is cm, and 4.5 cm is read, it is 4.5 (+-.1) or range 4.4 to 4.6 cm. The overal length of a ruler may not be accurate within the degree of the smallest mark and the marks may be imperfectly spaced within each unit. With both of these errors in mind, reading between the marks (to 4.55) does not increase one's confidence in the overall reading and may make it worse.

Mechanical pencil

A mechanical pencil (US English) or a propelling pencil (UK English) or a pen pencil (Indian English)[1][2][3] is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a lead /ld/. The lead is not bonded to the outer casing and can be extended as its point is worn away. The lead is often made of graphite or a solid pigment. Mechanical pencils are used to provide lines of constant thickness without sharpening in technical drawing and writing. They have also been used [4] for fine-art drawing.[5] Mechanical pencils were first used in the 18th century with many designs patented in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Contents

1 History 2 Mechanism types 3 Lead variations o 3.1 Diameter o 3.2 Pigments 4 See also 5 Notes and references 6 Bibliography 7 External links

History

Detail of the first patent for a mechanical pencil.

Conrad Gesner described a leadholder pencil in 1565, but the lead had to be manually adjusted to sharpen it.[6] The earliest extant example of a mechanical pencil was found aboard the wreckage of HMS Pandora, which sank in 1791.[7] The first patent for a refillable pencil with lead-propelling mechanism was issued to Sampson Mordan and John Isaac Hawkins in Britain in 1822. After buying out Hawkins' patent rights, Mordan entered into a business partnership with Gabriel Riddle from 1823 to 1837. The earliest Mordan pencils are thus hallmarked SMGR.[8][9] After 1837, Sampson Mordan ended the

partnership with Riddle and continued to manufacture pencils as "S.MORDAN & CO". His company continued to manufacture pencils and a wide range of silver objects until World War II, when the factory was bombed. Between 1822 and 1874, more than 160 patents were registered pertaining to a variety of improvements to mechanical pencils. The first spring-loaded mechanical pencil was patented in 1877 and a twist-feed mechanism was developed in 1895. The 0.9 mm lead was introduced in 1938, and later it was followed by 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7. Even 1.3 and 1.4 mm mechanisms were available, and 0.4 and 0.2 versions are now produced. The mechanical pencil became successful in Japan with some improvements in 1915 by Tokuji Hayakawa, a metal worker who had just finished his apprenticeship. It was introduced as the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil. Success was not immediate, since the metal shaftessential for the pencil's long lifewas unfamiliar to users. The Ever-Sharp began selling in huge numbers, however, after a company from Tokyo and Osaka made large orders. Later Tokuji Hayakawa's company got its name from that pencil: Sharp. At nearly the same time, in America, Charles R. Keeran was developing a similar pencil that would be the precursor of most of today's pencils. Keeran's design was ratchet-based, whereas Hayakawa's was screw-based. These two development histories are often combined into one.

Mechanism types

A Pentel Sharp ratchet draughting pencil disassembled, showing three 0.5 mm graphite leads.

Mechanical pencils can be divided into two basic types: those that both hold the lead and actively propel it forward during use, and those that only hold the lead in position against gravity. Ratchet-based pencils are a variant of the clutch pencil, in which the lead is held in place by two or three small jaws inside a ring at the tip. The jaws are controlled by a button on the end or the side of the pencil. When the button is pushed, the jaws move forward and separate, allowing the lead to advance. When the button is released and the jaws retract, the "lead retainer" (a small rubber device inside the tip) keeps the lead in place, prevents the lead from either falling freely outward or riding back up into the barrel until the jaws recover their grip.

In one type of ratchet-based pencil, shaking the pencil back and forth causes a weight inside the pencil to operate a mechanism in the cap. A button may be present. Another variation advances the lead automatically. In this design, the lead is advanced by a ratchet but only prevented from going back into the pencil, just held from falling by a small amount of friction. The nib is a spring-loaded collar that, when depressed as the lead is worn away, pulls out more when pressure is released. A very modern type has a mechanical engine that twists the pencil lead 6 degrees counter clockwise every time the lead is pressed on to the paper to keep the lead 50% less broad than the common propelling mechanical pencils, resulting in uniform thickness of the lines written onto the paper. It was first developed by Mitsubishi Pencil Co.,LTD, and named Kuru Toga.[10] Screw-based pencils advance the lead by twisting a screw, which moves a slider down the barrel of the pencil. This was the most common type in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Many of these have a locking mechanism one way to allow the lead to be pushed back into the pencil. A clutch pencil (or leadholder) tends to use thicker leads (25.6 mm) and generally holds only one piece of lead at a time. A typical clutch pencil is activated by pressing the eraser cap to open the jaws inside the tip, allowing the lead to freely drop through from the barrel (or into it when retracting). Because the lead falls freely when the jaws are opened, its forward movement cannot be controlled except by externally halting its progress. This can be easily done by keeping the tip of the pencil a few millimeters above a work surface or the palm of one's hand. Some clutch pencils do have mechanisms which incrementally advance the lead, such as the Alvin Tech-Matic leadholder, but are not normally considered to be in the same category as most pencils with propellant mechanisms.

Lead variations
Compared to standard pencils, mechanical pencils have a smaller range of marking types. Nevertheless, numerous variations exist. Most mechanical pencils can be refilled, but some inexpensive models are meant to be disposable and discarded when empty.
Diameter

Mechanical pencil mechanisms use only a single lead diameter. Some pencils, such as the Pentel Function 357, place several mechanisms within the same housing, so as to offer a range of thicknesses (in this case three: 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 mm). 1.00 mm leads also exist, but they are very rare. (See table below.) Different sizes of lead diameters are available to accommodate various preferences and pencil builds, as shown in the table below. The most popular lead sizes are 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm,[citation needed] whose line widths allow for precise writing and drawing. There are also rare 0.2 mm leads and limited edition 0.1 mm leads (manufactured by Pentel).

Diameter 0.2 mm 0.3 mm 0.4 mm 0.5 mm 0.7 mm 0.9 mm 1.0 mm technical work technical work technical work

Uses

general writing, general technical work, beginner's technical work general writing students/general writing rare, used in pre-1950 Parker pencils

1.18 mm older, used in pencils like the Yard-O-Led 1.3 mm 1.4 mm 2 mm Staedtler and Pentel (colour leads only for Pentel) Faber-Castell e-Motion and the new Lamy ABC as well as some Stabilo children's pencils drafting leadholders

3.15 mm non-drafting leadholders 5.6 mm non-drafting leadholders

Pencils with sub-millimeter leads can usually hold multiple leads at the same time, reducing the frequency of refills. One exception was the Pentel 350 E, possibly Pentel's first mechanical pencil,[11] which could only hold a single stick of 0.5 mm lead. Refill leads can be bought in small tubes and inserted into the barrel as needed.
Pigments

As with non-mechanical pencils, the leads of mechanical pencils are available in a range of graphite/binder ratios, depending on the user's desired balance between darkness and durability. Mechanical pencils with colored leads are relatively rare, but do exist. Crayola's "Twistable" product line includes two different types of colored pencils (erasable and non-erasable) with mechanical feed mechanisms, but does not offer refill leads. Several non-US companies such as Pentel, Pilot, and uni-ball currently manufacture colored refill leads in a limited range of diameters (0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, or 2 mm) for their own products. Koh-i-Noor makes mechanical colored pencils with replaceable leads in 2.0, 3.15 and 5.6 mm sizes.[12]

Global Positioning System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "GPS" redirects here. For other uses, see GPS (disambiguation).
Geodesy Fundamentals

Geodesy Geodynamics Geomatics Cartography

Concepts

Datum Distance Geoid Fig. Earth Geodesic

Geodetic system

Geog. coord. system Hor. pos. represent.

Lat. / Long. Map proj. Ref. ellipsoid Satellite geodesy

Spatial ref. system

Technologies

GNSS GPS GLONASS Galileo IRNSS Compass

Standards

ED50 ETRS89 GRS 80 NAD83 NAVD88 SAD69 SRID UTM WGS84

History

History of geodesy

NAVD29

v t

Artist's conception of GPS Block II-F satellite in Earth orbit.

Civilian GPS receivers ("GPS navigation device") in a marine application.

Automotive navigation system in a taxicab.

GPS receivers are now integrated in many mobile phones.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman runs through a checklist during Global Positioning System satellite operations.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.[1] The system provides critical capabilities to military, civil and commercial users around the world. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver. The GPS project was developed in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems,[2] integrating ideas from several predecessors, including a number of classified engineering design studies from the 1960s. GPS was created and realized by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and was originally run with 24 satellites. It became fully operational in 1994. Bradford Parkinson, Roger L. Easton, and Ivan A. Getting are credited with inventing it. Advances in technology and new demands on the existing system have now led to efforts to modernize the GPS system and implement the next generation of GPS III satellites and Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX).[3] Announcements from Vice President Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the modernization effort, GPS III.

In addition to GPS, other systems are in use or under development. The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) was developed contemporaneously with GPS, but suffered from incomplete coverage of the globe until the mid-2000s.[4] There are also the planned European Union Galileo positioning system, Chinese Compass navigation system, and Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System.

Contents

1 History o 1.1 Predecessors o 1.2 Development o 1.3 Timeline and modernization o 1.4 Awards 2 Basic concept of GPS 3 Structure o 3.1 Space segment o 3.2 Control segment o 3.3 User segment 4 Applications o 4.1 Civilian 4.1.1 Restrictions on civilian use o 4.2 Military 5 Communication o 5.1 Message format o 5.2 Satellite frequencies o 5.3 Demodulation and decoding 6 Navigation equations o 6.1 Least squares method o 6.2 Bancroft's method 7 Error sources and analysis 8 Accuracy enhancement and surveying o 8.1 Augmentation o 8.2 Precise monitoring o 8.3 Timekeeping 8.3.1 Leap seconds 8.3.2 Accuracy 8.3.3 Format o 8.4 Carrier phase tracking (surveying) 9 Regulatory spectrum issues concerning GPS receivers 10 Other systems 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

History
The design of GPS is based partly on similar ground-based radio-navigation systems, such as LORAN and the Decca Navigator, developed in the early 1940s and used during World War II.
Predecessors

In 1956, the German-American physicist Friedwardt Winterberg[5] proposed a test of general relativity (for time slowing in a strong gravitational field) using accurate atomic clocks placed in orbit inside artificial satellites. Without the use of general relativity to correct for time running more quickly by 38 microseconds per day in orbit, GPS would suffer gross malfunction.[6] Additional inspiration for GPS came when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. Two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkins's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), decided to monitor Sputnik's radio transmissions.[7] Within hours they realized that, because of the Doppler effect, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit. The Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC to do the heavy calculations required. The next spring, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem pinpointing the user's location given that of the satellite. (The Navy was developing the submarine-launched Polaris missile, which required them to know the submarine's location.) This led them and APL to develop the Transit system.[8] In 1959, ARPA (renamed DARPA in 1972) also played a role in Transit.[9][10][11]

Official logo for Emblem of the NAVSTAR GPS 50th Space Wing

The first satellite navigation system, Transit, used by the United States Navy, was first successfully tested in 1960.[12] It used a constellation of five satellites and could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour. In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation satellite that proved the ability to place accurate clocks in space, a technology required by GPS. In the 1970s, the ground-based Omega Navigation System, based on phase comparison of signal transmission from pairs of stations,[13] became the first worldwide radio navigation system. Limitations of these systems drove the need for a more universal navigation solution with greater accuracy. While there were wide needs for accurate navigation in military and civilian sectors, almost none of those was seen as justification for the billions of dollars it would cost in research, development, deployment, and operation for a constellation of navigation satellites. During the

Cold War arms race, the nuclear threat to the existence of the United States was the one need that did justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress. This deterrent effect is why GPS was funded. It is also the reason for the ultra secrecy at that time. The nuclear triad consisted of the United States Navy's submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) along with United States Air Force (USAF) strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Considered vital to the nuclear-deterrence posture, accurate determination of the SLBM launch position was a force multiplier. Precise navigation would enable United States submarines to get an accurate fix of their positions before they launched their SLBMs.[14] The USAF, with two thirds of the nuclear triad, also had requirements for a more accurate and reliable navigation system. The Navy and Air Force were developing their own technologies in parallel to solve what was essentially the same problem. To increase the survivability of ICBMs, there was a proposal to use mobile launch platforms (such as Russian SS-24 and SS-25) and so the need to fix the launch position had similarity to the SLBM situation. In 1960, the Air Force proposed a radio-navigation system called MOSAIC (MObile System for Accurate ICBM Control) that was essentially a 3-D LORAN. A follow-on study, Project 57, was worked in 1963 and it was "in this study that the GPS concept was born". That same year, the concept was pursued as Project 621B, which had "many of the attributes that you now see in GPS"[15] and promised increased accuracy for Air Force bombers as well as ICBMs. Updates from the Navy Transit system were too slow for the high speeds of Air Force operation. The Naval Research Laboratory continued advancements with their Timation (Time Navigation) satellites, first launched in 1967, and with the third one in 1974 carrying the first atomic clock into orbit.[16] Another important predecessor to GPS came from a different branch of the United States military. In 1964, the United States Army orbited its first Sequential Collation of Range (SECOR) satellite used for geodetic surveying.[17] The SECOR system included three groundbased transmitters from known locations that would send signals to the satellite transponder in orbit. A fourth ground-based station, at an undetermined position, could then use those signals to fix its location precisely. The last SECOR satellite was launched in 1969.[18] Decades later, during the early years of GPS, civilian surveying became one of the first fields to make use of the new technology, because surveyors could reap benefits of signals from the less-thancomplete GPS constellation years before it was declared operational. GPS can be thought of as an evolution of the SECOR system where the ground-based transmitters have been migrated into orbit.
Development

With these parallel developments in the 1960s, it was realized that a superior system could be developed by synthesizing the best technologies from 621B, Transit, Timation, and SECOR in a multi-service program. During Labor Day weekend in 1973, a meeting of about 12 military officers at the Pentagon discussed the creation of a Defense Navigation Satellite System (DNSS). It was at this meeting

that "the real synthesis that became GPS was created." Later that year, the DNSS program was named Navstar, or Navigation System Using Timing and Ranging.[19] With the individual satellites being associated with the name Navstar (as with the predecessors Transit and Timation), a more fully encompassing name was used to identify the constellation of Navstar satellites, Navstar-GPS, which was later shortened simply to GPS.[20] After Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a Boeing 747 carrying 269 people, was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace,[21] in the vicinity of Sakhalin and Moneron Islands, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use, once it was sufficiently developed, as a common good.[22] The first satellite was launched in 1989, and the 24th satellite was launched in 1994. The GPS program cost at this point, not including the cost of the user equipment, but including the costs of the satellite launches, has been estimated to be about USD$5 billion (then-year dollars).[23] Roger L. Easton is widely credited as the primary inventor of GPS. Initially, the highest quality signal was reserved for military use, and the signal available for civilian use was intentionally degraded (Selective Availability). This changed with President Bill Clinton ordering Selective Availability to be turned off at midnight May 1, 2000, improving the precision of civilian GPS from 100 meters (330 ft) to 20 meters (66 ft). The executive order signed in 1996 to turn off Selective Availability in 2000 was proposed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, William Perry, because of the widespread growth of differential GPS services to improve civilian accuracy and eliminate the U.S. military advantage. Moreover, the U.S. military was actively developing technologies to deny GPS service to potential adversaries on a regional basis.[24] Over the last decade, the U.S. has implemented several improvements to the GPS service, including new signals for civil use and increased accuracy and integrity for all users, all while maintaining compatibility with existing GPS equipment. GPS modernization[25] has now become an ongoing initiative to upgrade the Global Positioning System with new capabilities to meet growing military, civil, and commercial needs. The program is being implemented through a series of satellite acquisitions, including GPS Block III and the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). The U.S. Government continues to improve the GPS space and ground segments to increase performance and accuracy. GPS is owned and operated by the United States Government as a national resource. Department of Defense (DoD) is the steward of GPS. Interagency GPS Executive Board (IGEB) oversaw GPS policy matters from 1996 to 2004. After that the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee was established by presidential directive in 2004 to advise and coordinate federal departments and agencies on matters concerning the GPS and related systems.[26] The executive committee is chaired jointly by the deputy secretaries of defense and transportation. Its membership includes equivalent-level officials from the departments of state, commerce, and homeland security, the joint chiefs of staff, and NASA. Components of the executive office of the president participate as observers to the executive committee, and the FCC chairman participates as a liaison.

The DoD is required by law to "maintain a Standard Positioning Service (as defined in the federal radio navigation plan and the standard positioning service signal specification) that will be available on a continuous, worldwide basis," and "develop measures to prevent hostile use of GPS and its augmentations without unduly disrupting or degrading civilian uses."
Timeline and modernization Main article: List of GPS satellite launches Summary of satellites[27] Satellite launches Block Launch Period Currently in orbit Suc- Fail- In prep- Plan- and healthy cess ure aration ned 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 8 16 36 0 0 9 12 7 3 0 0 0 31

I II

19781985 10 1 19891990 9 0

IIA 19901997 19 0 IIR 19972004 12 1 IIR-M 20052009 8 IIF From 2010 3 IIIA From 2014 0 IIIB IIIC Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

61 2

(Last update: October 8, 2012) PRN 01 from Block IIR-M is unhealthy PRN 25 from Block IIA is unhealthy PRN 32 from Block IIA is unhealthy PRN 27 from Block IIA is unhealthy [28] For a more complete list, see list of GPS satellite launches

In 1972, the USAF Central Inertial Guidance Test Facility (Holloman AFB), conducted developmental flight tests of two prototype GPS receivers over White Sands Missile Range, using ground-based pseudo-satellites.[citation needed] In 1978, the first experimental Block-I GPS satellite was launched. In 1983, after Soviet interceptor aircraft shot down the civilian airliner KAL 007 that strayed into prohibited airspace because of navigational errors, killing all 269 people on board, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that GPS would be made available for civilian uses once it was completed,[29][30] although it had been previously published [in Navigation magazine] that the CA code (Coarse Acquisition code) would be available to civilian users. By 1985, ten more experimental Block-I satellites had been launched to validate the concept. Command & Control of these satellites had moved from Onizuka AFS, CA and turned over to the 2nd Satellite Control Squadron (2SCS) located at Falcon Air Force Station in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[31][32] On February 14, 1989, the first modern Block-II satellite was launched. The Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 was the first conflict in which GPS was widely used.[33] In 1992, the 2nd Space Wing, which originally managed the system, was de-activated and replaced by the 50th Space Wing. By December 1993, GPS achieved initial operational capability (IOC), indicating a full constellation (24 satellites) was available and providing the Standard Positioning Service (SPS).[34] Full Operational Capability (FOC) was declared by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) in April 1995, signifying full availability of the military's secure Precise Positioning Service (PPS).[34] In 1996, recognizing the importance of GPS to civilian users as well as military users, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued a policy directive[35] declaring GPS to be a dual-use system and establishing an Interagency GPS Executive Board to manage it as a national asset. In 1998, United States Vice President Al Gore announced plans to upgrade GPS with two new civilian signals for enhanced user accuracy and reliability, particularly with respect to aviation safety and in 2000 the United States Congress authorized the effort, referring to it as GPS III. On May 2, 2000 "Selective Availability" was discontinued as a result of the 1996 executive order, allowing users to receive a non-degraded signal globally. In 2004, the United States Government signed an agreement with the European Community establishing cooperation related to GPS and Europe's planned Galileo system. In 2004, United States President George W. Bush updated the national policy and replaced the executive board with the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing.[36] November 2004, Qualcomm announced successful tests of assisted GPS for mobile phones.[37] In 2005, the first modernized GPS satellite was launched and began transmitting a second civilian signal (L2C) for enhanced user performance.[38] On September 14, 2007, the aging mainframe-based Ground Segment Control System was transferred to the new Architecture Evolution Plan.[39] On May 19, 2009, the United States Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that some GPS satellites could fail as soon as 2010.[40] On May 21, 2009, the Air Force Space Command allayed fears of GPS failure saying "There's only a small risk we will not continue to exceed our performance standard."[41] On January 11, 2010, an update of ground control systems caused a software incompatibility with 8000 to 10000 military receivers manufactured by a division of Trimble Navigation Limited of Sunnyvale, Calif.[42]

On February 25, 2010,[43] the U.S. Air Force awarded the contract to develop the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) to improve accuracy and availability of GPS navigation signals, and serve as a critical part of GPS modernization. A GPS satellite was launched on May 28, 2010.[44] The oldest GPS satellite still in operation was launched on November 26, 1990, and became operational on December 10, 1990.[45] The GPS satellite, GPS IIF-2, was launched on July 16, 2011 at 06:41 GMT from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[46] The GPS satellite, GPS IIF-3, was launched on October 4, 2012 at 12:10 GMT from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[47] The GPS satellite, GPS IIF-4, was launched on May 15, 2013 at 21:38 GMT from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[48]

Awards

On February 10, 1993, the National Aeronautic Association selected the GPS Team as winners of the 1992 Robert J. Collier Trophy, the nation's most prestigious aviation award. This team combines researchers from the Naval Research Laboratory, the USAF, the Aerospace Corporation, Rockwell International Corporation, and IBM Federal Systems Company. The citation honors them "for the most significant development for safe and efficient navigation and surveillance of air and spacecraft since the introduction of radio navigation 50 years ago." Two GPS developers received the National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper Prize for 2003:

Ivan Getting, emeritus president of The Aerospace Corporation and an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, established the basis for GPS, improving on the World War II land-based radio system called LORAN (Long-range Radio Aid to Navigation). Bradford Parkinson, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University, conceived the present satellite-based system in the early 1960s and developed it in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force. Parkinson served twenty-one years in the Air Force, from 1957 to 1978, and retired with the rank of colonel. GPS developer Roger L. Easton received the National Medal of Technology on February 13, 2006.[49]

In 1998, GPS technology was inducted into the Space Foundation Space Technology Hall of Fame.[50] Francis X. Kane (Col. USAF, ret.) was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame at Lackland A.F.B., San Antonio, Texas, March 2, 2010 for his role in space technology development and the engineering design concept of GPS conducted as part of Project 621B. On October 4, 2011, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) awarded the Global Positioning System (GPS) its 60th Anniversary Award, nominated by IAF member, the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The IAF Honors and Awards Committee recognized the uniqueness of the GPS program and the exemplary role it has played in building international collaboration for the benefit of humanity.

Basic concept of GPS

A GPS receiver calculates its position by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites high above the Earth. Each satellite continually transmits messages that include

the time the message was transmitted satellite position at time of message transmission

The receiver uses the messages it receives to determine the transit time of each message and computes the distance to each satellite using the speed of light. Each of these distances and satellites' locations define a sphere. The receiver is on the surface of each of these spheres when the distances and the satellites' locations are correct. These distances and satellites' locations are used to compute the location of the receiver using the navigation equations. This location is then displayed, perhaps with a moving map display or latitude and longitude; elevation or altitude information may be included, based on height above the geoid (e.g. EGM96). Many GPS units show derived information such as direction and speed, calculated from position changes. In typical GPS operation, four or more satellites must be visible to obtain an accurate result. Four sphere surfaces typically do not intersect. [a] Because of this, it can be said with confidence that when the navigation equations are solved to find an intersection, this solution gives the position of the receiver along with the difference between the time kept by the receiver's on-board clock and the true time-of-day, thereby eliminating the need for a very large, expensive, and power hungry clock. The very accurately computed time is used only for display or not at all in many GPS applications, which use only the location. A number of applications for GPS do make use of this cheap and highly accurate timing. These include time transfer, traffic signal timing, and synchronization of cell phone base stations. Although four satellites are required for normal operation, fewer apply in special cases. If one variable is already known, a receiver can determine its position using only three satellites. For example, a ship or aircraft may have known elevation. Some GPS receivers may use additional clues or assumptions such as reusing the last known altitude, dead reckoning, inertial navigation, or including information from the vehicle computer, to give a (possibly degraded) position when fewer than four satellites are visible.[51][52][53]

Structure
The current GPS consists of three major segments. These are the space segment (SS), a control segment (CS), and a user segment (US).[54] The U.S. Air Force develops, maintains, and operates the space and control segments. GPS satellites broadcast signals from space, and each GPS receiver uses these signals to calculate its three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) and the current time.[55] The space segment is composed of 24 to 32 satellites in medium Earth orbit and also includes the payload adapters to the boosters required to launch them into orbit. The control segment is composed of a master control station, an alternate master control station, and a host of dedicated

and shared ground antennas and monitor stations. The user segment is composed of hundreds of thousands of U.S. and allied military users of the secure GPS Precise Positioning Service, and tens of millions of civil, commercial, and scientific users of the Standard Positioning Service (see GPS navigation devices).
Space segment See also: GPS satellite and List of GPS satellite launches

Unlaunched GPS block II-A satellite on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum

A visual example of a 24 satellite GPS constellation in motion with the Earth rotating. Notice how the number of satellites in view from a given point on the Earth's surface, in this example at 45N, changes with time.

The space segment (SS) is composed of the orbiting GPS satellites, or Space Vehicles (SV) in GPS parlance. The GPS design originally called for 24 SVs, eight each in three approximately circular orbits,[56] but this was modified to six orbital planes with four satellites each.[57] The six orbit planes have approximately 55 inclination (tilt relative to Earth's equator) and are separated by 60 right ascension of the ascending node (angle along the equator from a reference point to the orbit's intersection).[58] The orbital period is one-half a sidereal day, i.e., 11 hours and 58 minutes so that the satellites pass over the same locations[59] or almost the same locations[60] every day. The orbits are arranged so that at least six satellites are always within line of sight from almost everywhere on Earth's surface.[61] The result of this objective is that the four satellites are not evenly spaced (90 degrees) apart within each orbit. In general terms, the angular difference between satellites in each orbit is 30, 105, 120, and 105 degrees apart which sum to 360 degrees.

Orbiting at an altitude of approximately 20,200 km (12,600 mi); orbital radius of approximately 26,600 km (16,500 mi), each SV makes two complete orbits each sidereal day, repeating the same ground track each day.[62] This was very helpful during development because even with only four satellites, correct alignment means all four are visible from one spot for a few hours each day. For military operations, the ground track repeat can be used to ensure good coverage in combat zones. As of December 2012,[63] there are 32 satellites in the GPS constellation. The additional satellites improve the precision of GPS receiver calculations by providing redundant measurements. With the increased number of satellites, the constellation was changed to a nonuniform arrangement. Such an arrangement was shown to improve reliability and availability of the system, relative to a uniform system, when multiple satellites fail.[64] About nine satellites are visible from any point on the ground at any one time (see animation at right), ensuring considerable redundancy over the minimum four satellites needed for a position.
Control segment

Ground monitor station used from 1984 to 2007, on display at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum

The control segment is composed of

1. 2. 3. 4. a master control station (MCS), an alternate master control station, four dedicated ground antennas and six dedicated monitor stations

The MCS can also access U.S. Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) ground antennas (for additional command and control capability) and NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) monitor stations. The flight paths of the satellites are tracked by dedicated U.S. Air Force monitoring stations in Hawaii, Kwajalein Atoll, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Colorado Springs, Colorado and Cape Canaveral, along with shared NGA monitor stations operated in England, Argentina, Ecuador, Bahrain, Australia and Washington DC.[65] The tracking information is sent to the Air Force Space Command MCS at Schriever Air Force Base 25 km (16 mi) ESE of Colorado Springs, which is operated by the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) of the U.S. Air Force. Then 2 SOPS contacts each GPS satellite regularly with a navigational update using dedicated or shared (AFSCN) ground antennas (GPS dedicated ground antennas are located at Kwajalein, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, and Cape Canaveral). These

updates synchronize the atomic clocks on board the satellites to within a few nanoseconds of each other, and adjust the ephemeris of each satellite's internal orbital model. The updates are created by a Kalman filter that uses inputs from the ground monitoring stations, space weather information, and various other inputs.[66] Satellite maneuvers are not precise by GPS standards. So to change the orbit of a satellite, the satellite must be marked unhealthy, so receivers will not use it in their calculation. Then the maneuver can be carried out, and the resulting orbit tracked from the ground. Then the new ephemeris is uploaded and the satellite marked healthy again. The Operation Control Segment (OCS) currently serves as the control segment of record. It provides the operational capability that supports global GPS users and keeps the GPS system operational and performing within specification. OCS successfully replaced the legacy 1970s-era mainframe computer at Schriever Air Force Base in September 2007. After installation, the system helped enable upgrades and provide a foundation for a new security architecture that supported the U.S. armed forces. OCS will continue to be the ground control system of record until the new segment, Next Generation GPS Operation Control System[3] (OCX), is fully developed and functional. The new capabilities provided by OCX will be the cornerstone for revolutionizing GPS's mission capabilities, and enabling[67] Air Force Space Command to greatly enhance GPS operational services to U.S. combat forces, civil partners and myriad domestic and international users. The GPS OCX program also will reduce cost, schedule and technical risk. It is designed to provide 50%[68] sustainment cost savings through efficient software architecture and Performance-Based Logistics. In addition, GPS OCX expected to cost millions less than the cost to upgrade OCS while providing four times the capability. The GPS OCX program represents a critical part of GPS modernization and provides significant information assurance improvements over the current GPS OCS program.

OCX will have the ability to control and manage GPS legacy satellites as well as the next generation of GPS III satellites, while enabling the full array of military signals. Built on a flexible architecture that can rapidly adapt to the changing needs of today's and future GPS users allowing immediate access to GPS data and constellations status through secure, accurate and reliable information. Empowers the warfighter with more secure, actionable and predictive information to enhance situational awareness. Enables new modernized signals (L1C, L2C, and L5) and has M-code capability, which the legacy system is unable to do. Provides significant information assurance improvements over the current program including detecting and preventing cyber attacks, while isolating, containing and operating during such attacks. Supports higher volume near real-time command and control capabilities and abilities.

On September 14, 2011,[69] the U.S. Air Force announced the completion of GPS OCX Preliminary Design Review and confirmed that the OCX program is ready for the next phase of development. The GPS OCX program has achieved major milestones and is on track to support the GPS IIIA launch in May 2014.
User segment Further information: GPS navigation device

GPS receivers come in a variety of formats, from devices integrated into cars, phones, and watches, to dedicated devices such as these.

The user segment is composed of hundreds of thousands of U.S. and allied military users of the secure GPS Precise Positioning Service, and tens of millions of civil, commercial and scientific users of the Standard Positioning Service. In general, GPS receivers are composed of an antenna, tuned to the frequencies transmitted by the satellites, receiver-processors, and a highly stable clock (often a crystal oscillator). They may also include a display for providing location and speed information to the user. A receiver is often described by its number of channels: this signifies how many satellites it can monitor simultaneously. Originally limited to four or five, this has progressively increased over the years so that, as of 2007, receivers typically have between 12 and 20 channels.[b]

A typical OEM GPS receiver module measuring 1517 mm.

GPS receivers may include an input for differential corrections, using the RTCM SC-104 format. This is typically in the form of an RS-232 port at 4,800 bit/s speed. Data is actually sent at a much lower rate, which limits the accuracy of the signal sent using RTCM.[citation needed] Receivers with internal DGPS receivers can outperform those using external RTCM data.[citation needed] As of 2006, even low-cost units commonly include Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) receivers.

A typical GPS receiver with integrated antenna.

Many GPS receivers can relay position data to a PC or other device using the NMEA 0183 protocol. Although this protocol is officially defined by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA),[70] references to this protocol have been compiled from public records, allowing open source tools like gpsd to read the protocol without violating intellectual property laws.[clarification needed] Other proprietary protocols exist as well, such as the SiRF and MTK protocols. Receivers can interface with other devices using methods including a serial connection, USB, or Bluetooth.

Applications
While originally a military project, GPS is considered a dual-use technology, meaning it has significant military and civilian applications. GPS has become a widely deployed and useful tool for commerce, scientific uses, tracking, and surveillance. GPS's accurate time facilitates everyday activities such as banking, mobile phone operations, and even the control of power grids by allowing well synchronized hand-off switching.[55]
Civilian See also: GNSS applications and GPS navigation device

This antenna is mounted on the roof of a hut containing a scientific experiment needing precise timing.

Many civilian applications use one or more of GPS's three basic components: absolute location, relative movement, and time transfer.

Astronomy: Both positional and clock synchronization data is used in Astrometry and Celestial mechanics calculations. It is also used in amateur astronomy using small telescopes to professionals observatories, for example, while finding extrasolar planets. Automated vehicle: Applying location and routes for cars and trucks to function without a human driver. Cartography: Both civilian and military cartographers use GPS extensively. Cellular telephony: Clock synchronization enables time transfer, which is critical for synchronizing its spreading codes with other base stations to facilitate inter-cell handoff and support hybrid GPS/cellular position detection for mobile emergency calls and other applications. The first handsets with integrated GPS launched in the late 1990s. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated the feature in either the handset or in the towers (for use in triangulation) in 2002 so emergency services could locate 911 callers. Third-party software developers later gained access to GPS APIs from Nextel upon launch, followed by Sprint in 2006, and Verizon soon thereafter. Clock synchronization: The accuracy of GPS time signals (10 ns)[71] is second only to the atomic clocks upon which they are based. Disaster relief/emergency services: Depend upon GPS for location and timing capabilities. Fleet Tracking: The use of GPS technology to identify, locate and maintain contact reports with one or more fleet vehicles in real-time.

Geofencing: Vehicle tracking systems, person tracking systems, and pet tracking systems use GPS to locate a vehicle, person, or pet. These devices are attached to the vehicle, person, or the pet collar. The application provides continuous tracking and mobile or Internet updates should the target leave a designated area.[72] Geotagging: Applying location coordinates to digital objects such as photographs (in exif data) and other documents for purposes such as creating map overlays with devices like Nikon GP-1 GPS Aircraft Tracking GPS for Mining: The use of RTK GPS has significantly improved several mining operations such as drilling, shoveling, vehicle tracking, and surveying. RTK GPS provides centimeter-level positioning accuracy. GPS tours: Location determines what content to display; for instance, information about an approaching point of interest. Navigation: Navigators value digitally precise velocity and orientation measurements. Phasor measurements: GPS enables highly accurate timestamping of power system measurements, making it possible to compute phasors. Recreation: For example, geocaching, geodashing, GPS drawing and waymarking. Robotics: Self-navigating, autonomous robots using a GPS sensors, which calculate latitude, longitude, time, speed, and heading. Surveying: Surveyors use absolute locations to make maps and determine property boundaries. Tectonics: GPS enables direct fault motion measurement in earthquakes. Telematics: GPS technology integrated with computers and mobile communications technology in automotive navigation systems

Restrictions on civilian use The U.S. Government controls the export of some civilian receivers. All GPS receivers capable of functioning above 18 kilometres (11 mi) altitude and 515 metres per second (1,001 kn) or designed, modified for use with unmanned air vehicles like e.g. ballistic or cruise missile systems are classified as munitions (weapons) for which State Department export licenses are required.[73] This rule applies even to otherwise purely civilian units that only receive the L1 frequency and the C/A (Coarse/Acquisition) code and cannot correct for Selective Availability (U.S. government discontinued SA on May 1, 2000, resulting in a much- improved autonomous GPS accuracy),[74] etc. Disabling operation above these limits exempts the receiver from classification as a munition. Vendor interpretations differ. The rule refers to operation at both the target altitude and speed, but some receivers stop operating even when stationary. This has caused problems with some amateur radio balloon launches that regularly reach 30 kilometres (19 mi). These limits only apply to units exported from (or which have components exported from) the USA there is a growing trade in various components, including GPS units, supplied by other countries, which are expressly sold as ITAR-free.
Military

Attaching a GPS guidance kit to a 'dumb' bomb, March 2003.

As of 2009, military applications of GPS include:

Navigation: GPS allows soldiers to find objectives, even in the dark or in unfamiliar territory, and to coordinate troop and supply movement. In the United States armed forces, commanders use the Commanders Digital Assistant and lower ranks use the Soldier Digital Assistant.[75][76][77][78] Target tracking: Various military weapons systems use GPS to track potential ground and air targets before flagging them as hostile.[citation needed] These weapon systems pass target coordinates to precision-guided munitions to allow them to engage targets accurately. Military aircraft, particularly in air-to-ground roles, use GPS to find targets (for example, gun camera video from AH-1 Cobras in Iraq show GPS co-ordinates that can be viewed with specialized software). Missile and projectile guidance: GPS allows accurate targeting of various military weapons including ICBMs, cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions and Artillery projectiles. Embedded GPS receivers able to withstand accelerations of 12,000 g or about 118 km/s2 have been developed for use in 155 millimetres (6.1 in) howitzers.[79] Search and Rescue: Downed pilots can be located faster if their position is known. Reconnaissance: Patrol movement can be managed more closely. GPS satellites carry a set of nuclear detonation detectors consisting of an optical sensor (Ysensor), an X-ray sensor, a dosimeter, and an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) sensor (W-sensor), that form a major portion of the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System.[80][81] General William Shelton has stated that this feature may be dropped from future satellites in order to save money.[82]

Communication
Main article: GPS signals

The navigational signals transmitted by GPS satellites encode a variety of information including satellite positions, the state of the internal clocks, and the health of the network. These signals are transmitted on two separate carrier frequencies that are common to all satellites in the network. Two different encodings are used: a public encoding that enables lower resolution navigation, and an encrypted encoding used by the U.S. military.
Message format GPS message format Subframes 1 Description Satellite clock, GPS time relationship Ephemeris (precise satellite orbit)

2 3

4 5

Almanac component (satellite network synopsis, error correction)

Each GPS satellite continuously broadcasts a navigation message on L1 C/A and L2 P/Y frequencies at a rate of 50 bits per second (see bitrate). Each complete message takes 750 seconds (12 1/2 minutes) to complete. The message structure has a basic format of a 1500-bitlong frame made up of five subframes, each subframe being 300 bits (6 seconds) long. Subframes 4 and 5 are subcommutated 25 times each, so that a complete data message requires the transmission of 25 full frames. Each subframe consists of ten words, each 30 bits long. Thus, with 300 bits in a subframe times 5 subframes in a frame times 25 frames in a message, each message is 37,500 bits long. At a transmission rate of 50 bit/s, this gives 750 seconds to transmit an entire almanac message. Each 30-second frame begins precisely on the minute or half-minute as indicated by the atomic clock on each satellite.[83] The first subframe of each frame encodes the week number and the time within the week,[84] as well as the data about the health of the satellite. The second and the third subframes contain the ephemeris the precise orbit for the satellite. The fourth and fifth subframes contain the almanac, which contains coarse orbit and status information for up to 32 satellites in the constellation as well as data related to error correction. Thus, in order to obtain an accurate satellite location from this transmitted message the receiver must demodulate the message from each satellite it includes in its solution for 18 to 30 seconds. In order to collect all the transmitted almanacs the receiver must demodulate the message for 732 to 750 seconds or 12 1/2 minutes.[85] All satellites broadcast at the same frequencies. Signals are encoded using code division multiple access (CDMA) allowing messages from individual satellites to be distinguished from each other based on unique encodings for each satellite (that the receiver must be aware of). Two distinct types of CDMA encodings are used: the coarse/acquisition (C/A) code, which is accessible by the general public, and the precise (P(Y)) code, which is encrypted so that only the U.S. military can access it.[86] The ephemeris is updated every 2 hours and is generally valid for 4 hours, with provisions for updates every 6 hours or longer in non-nominal conditions. The almanac is updated typically every 24 hours. Additionally, data for a few weeks following is uploaded in case of transmission updates that delay data upload.[citation needed]
This table needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January
2013)

Subframe # Page # 1 all

Name

Word # Bits Scale Signed 110 1:1 No

Week Number 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all

CA or P On L2 3 URA Index SV_Health IODC(MSB) L2Pdata flag ResW4 ResW5 ResW6 ResW7 TGD IODC (LSB) TOC AF2 AF1 AF0 Name IODE CRS Delta N M0 (MSB) M0 (LSB) CUC 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10

11,12 1:1 1316 1:1 1722 1:1 23,24 1:1 1 1:1

No No No No No

224 N/A N/A 124 N/A N/A 124 N/A N/A 116 N/A N/A 1724 2^-31 Yes 1 8 1:1 No No

924 2^4 1 8

2^-55 Yes

924 2^-43 Yes 122 2^-31 Yes

Subframe # Page # 2 2 2 2 2 2 all all all all all all

Word # Bits Scale Signed 3 3 4 4 5 6 1 8 1:1 No

924 2^-5 Yes 116 2^-43 Yes 1724 2^-31 Yes 124 116 2^-29 Yes

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

all all all all all all all all

e (MSB) e (LSB) CUS

6 7 8

1724 2^-33 No 124 116 2^-29 Yes 1724 2^-19 No 124 116 2^4 17 1:1 No No No

root A (MSB) 8 root A (LSB) 9 TOE FitInt AODO Name CIC 10 10 10

1822 900

Subframe # Page # 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 all all all all all all all all all all all all

Word # Bits Scale Signed 3 116 2^-29 Yes 1724 2^-31 Yes 124 116 2^-29 Yes 1724 2^-31 Yes 124 116 2^-5 Yes 1724 2^-31 Yes 124 124 2^-43 Yes 1 8 1:1 No

Omega 0 (MSB) 3 Omega 0 (LSB) 4 CIS i0 (MSB) i0 (LSB) CRC Omega (MSB) Omega (LSB) Omega Dot IODE IDOT 5 5 6 7 7 8 9 10 10

922 2^-43 Yes

Satellite frequencies GPS frequency overview Band Frequency Description

L1

Coarse-acquisition (C/A) and encrypted precision (P(Y)) 1575.42 MHz codes, plus the L1 civilian (L1C) and military (M) codes on future Block III satellites. 1227.60 MHz P(Y) code, plus the L2C and military codes on the Block IIR-M and newer satellites.

L2 L3 L4 L5

1381.05 MHz Used for nuclear detonation (NUDET) detection. 1379.913 MHz Being studied for additional ionospheric correction.[citation
needed]

1176.45 MHz Proposed for use as a civilian safety-of-life (SoL) signal.

All satellites broadcast at the same two frequencies, 1.57542 GHz (L1 signal) and 1.2276 GHz (L2 signal). The satellite network uses a CDMA spread-spectrum technique[citation needed] where the low-bitrate message data is encoded with a high-rate pseudo-random (PRN) sequence that is different for each satellite. The receiver must be aware of the PRN codes for each satellite to reconstruct the actual message data. The C/A code, for civilian use, transmits data at 1.023 million chips per second, whereas the P code, for U.S. military use, transmits at 10.23 million chips per second. The actual internal reference of the satellites is 10.22999999543 MHz to compensate for relativistic effects[87][88] that make observers on Earth perceive a different time reference with respect to the transmitters in orbit. The L1 carrier is modulated by both the C/A and P codes, while the L2 carrier is only modulated by the P code.[89] The P code can be encrypted as a so-called P(Y) code that is only available to military equipment with a proper decryption key. Both the C/A and P(Y) codes impart the precise time-of-day to the user. The L3 signal at a frequency of 1.38105 GHz is used to transmit data from the satellites to ground stations. This data is used by the United States Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection System (USNDS) to detect, locate, and report nuclear detonations (NUDETs) in the Earth's atmosphere and near space.[90] One usage is the enforcement of nuclear test ban treaties. The L4 band at 1.379913 GHz is being studied for additional ionospheric correction.[citation needed] The L5 frequency band at 1.17645 GHz was added in the process of GPS modernization. This frequency falls into an internationally protected range for aeronautical navigation, promising little or no interference under all circumstances. The first Block IIF satellite that provides this signal was launched in 2010.[91] The L5 consists of two carrier components that are in phase quadrature with each other. Each carrier component is bi-phase shift key (BPSK) modulated by a

separate bit train. "L5, the third civil GPS signal, will eventually support safety-of-life applications for aviation and provide improved availability and accuracy."[92] A conditional waiver has recently been granted to LightSquared to operate a terrestrial broadband service near the L1 band. Although LightSquared had applied for a license to operate in the 1525 to 1559 band as early as 2003 and it was put out for public comment, the FCC asked LightSquared to form a study group with the GPS community to test GPS receivers and identify issue that might arise due to the larger signal power from the LightSquared terrestrial network. The GPS community had not objected to the LightSquared (formerly MSV and SkyTerra) applications until November 2010, when LightSquared applied for a modification to its Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) authorization. This filing (SAT-MOD-20101118-00239) amounted to a request to run several orders of magnitude more power in the same frequency band for terrestrial base stations, essentially repurposing what was supposed to be a "quiet neighborhood" for signals from space as the equivalent of a cellular network. Testing in the first half of 2011 has demonstrated that the impact of the lower 10 MHz of spectrum is minimal to GPS devices (less than 1% of the total GPS devices are affected). The upper 10 MHz intended for use by LightSquared may have some impact on GPS devices. There is some concern that this will seriously degrade the GPS signal for many consumer uses.[93][94] Aviation Week magazine reports that the latest testing (June 2011) confirms "significant jamming" of GPS by LightSquared's system.[95]
Demodulation and decoding

Demodulating and Decoding GPS Satellite Signals using the Coarse/Acquisition Gold code.

Because all of the satellite signals are modulated onto the same L1 carrier frequency, the signals must be separated after demodulation. This is done by assigning each satellite a unique binary sequence known as a Gold code. The signals are decoded after demodulation using addition of the Gold codes corresponding to the satellites monitored by the receiver.[96][97] If the almanac information has previously been acquired, the receiver picks the satellites to listen for by their PRNs, unique numbers in the range 1 through 32. If the almanac information is not in memory, the receiver enters a search mode until a lock is obtained on one of the satellites. To obtain a lock, it is necessary that there be an unobstructed line of sight from the receiver to the satellite. The receiver can then acquire the almanac and determine the satellites it should listen for. As it detects each satellite's signal, it identifies it by its distinct C/A code pattern. There can

be a delay of up to 30 seconds before the first estimate of position because of the need to read the ephemeris data. Processing of the navigation message enables the determination of the time of transmission and the satellite position at this time. For more information see Demodulation and Decoding, Advanced.

Navigation equations
The receiver uses messages received from satellites to determine the satellite positions and time sent. The x, y, and z components of satellite position and the time sent are designated as [xi, yi, zi, ti] where the subscript i denotes the satellite and has the value 1, 2, ..., n, where When the time of message reception indicated by the on-board clock is where . Assuming the message traveled at the speed of light, , the true reception time is , the distance traveled is is receiver's clock bias (i.e., clock delay). The message's transit time is

. Knowing the distance from receiver to satellite and the satellite's position implies that the receiver is on the surface of a sphere centered at the satellite's position with radius equal to this distance. Thus the receiver is at or near the intersection of the surfaces of the spheres if it receives signals from more than one satellite. In the ideal case of no errors, the receiver is at the intersection of the surfaces of the spheres. The clock error or bias, b, is the amount that the receiver's clock is off. The receiver has four unknowns, the three components of GPS receiver position and the clock bias [x, y, z, b]. The equations of the sphere surfaces are given by:

or in terms of pseudoranges,

, as
.

These equations can be solved by algebraic or numerical methods.

Least squares method

When more than four satellites are available, the calculation can use the four best or more than four, considering number of channels, processing capability, and geometric dilution of precision (GDOP). Using more than four is an over-determined system of equations with no unique solution, which must be solved by a least-squares method.[98] Errors can be estimated through the residuals. With each combination of four or more satellites, a GDOP factor can be calculated, based on the relative sky directions of the satellites used.[99] The location is expressed in a

specific coordinate system or as latitude and longitude, using the WGS 84 geodetic datum or a country-specific system.[100]

Bancroft's method

Bancroft's method involves an algebraic as opposed to numerical method and can be used for the case of four or more satellites.[101][102] Bancroft's method provides one or two solutions for the four unknowns. However when there are two solutions, only one of these two solutions will be a near earth sensible solution. When there are four satellites, we use the inverse of the B matrix in section 2 of.[102] If there are more than four satellites then we use the Generalized inverse (i.e. the pseudoinvers) of the B matrix since in this case the B matrix is no longer square.

Error sources and analysis

Main article: Error analysis for the Global Positioning System

GPS error analysis examines the sources of errors in GPS results and the expected size of those errors. GPS makes corrections for receiver clock errors and other effects but there are still residual errors which are not corrected. Sources of error include signal arrival time measurements, numerical calculations, atmospheric effects, ephemeris and clock data, multipath signals, and natural and artificial interference. The magnitude of the residual errors resulting from these sources is dependent on geometric dilution of precision. Artificial errors may result from jamming devices and threaten ships and aircraft.[103]

Accuracy enhancement and surveying

Main article: GPS augmentation Augmentation

Integrating external information into the calculation process can materially improve accuracy. Such augmentation systems are generally named or described based on how the information arrives. Some systems transmit additional error information (such as clock drift, ephemera, or ionospheric delay), others characterize prior errors, while a third group provides additional navigational or vehicle information. Examples of augmentation systems include the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Differential GPS, Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and Assisted GPS.

Precise monitoring

Accuracy can be improved through precise monitoring and measurement of existing GPS signals in additional or alternate ways. The largest remaining error is usually the unpredictable delay through the ionosphere. The spacecraft broadcast ionospheric model parameters, but some errors remain. This is one reason GPS spacecraft transmit on at least two frequencies, L1 and L2. Ionospheric delay is a welldefined function of frequency and the total electron content (TEC) along the path, so measuring the arrival time difference between the frequencies determines TEC and thus the precise ionospheric delay at each frequency. Military receivers can decode the P(Y) code transmitted on both L1 and L2. Without decryption keys, it is still possible to use a codeless technique to compare the P(Y) codes on L1 and L2 to gain much of the same error information. However, this technique is slow, so it is currently available only on specialized surveying equipment. In the future, additional civilian codes are expected to be transmitted on the L2 and L5 frequencies (see GPS modernization). Then all users will be able to perform dual-frequency measurements and directly compute ionospheric delay errors. A second form of precise monitoring is called Carrier-Phase Enhancement (CPGPS). This corrects the error that arises because the pulse transition of the PRN is not instantaneous, and thus the correlation (satellite-receiver sequence matching) operation is imperfect. CPGPS uses the L1 carrier wave, which has a period of is about one-thousandth of the C/A Gold code bit period of , which

, to act as an additional clock signal and resolve the uncertainty. The phase difference error in the normal GPS amounts to 23 metres (6.69.8 ft) of ambiguity. CPGPS working to within 1% of perfect transition reduces this error to 3 centimetres (1.2 in) of ambiguity. By eliminating this error source, CPGPS coupled with DGPS normally realizes between 2030 centimetres (7.912 in) of absolute accuracy. Relative Kinematic Positioning (RKP) is a third alternative for a precise GPS-based positioning system. In this approach, determination of range signal can be resolved to a precision of less than 10 centimetres (3.9 in). This is done by resolving the number of cycles that the signal is transmitted and received by the receiver by using a combination of differential GPS (DGPS) correction data, transmitting GPS signal phase information and ambiguity resolution techniques via statistical testspossibly with processing in real-time (real-time kinematic positioning, RTK).
Timekeeping

Leap seconds

While most clocks derive their time from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the atomic clocks on the satellites are set to GPS time (GPST; see the page of United States Naval Observatory). The difference is that GPS time is not corrected to match the rotation of the Earth, so it does not contain leap seconds or other corrections that are periodically added to UTC. GPS time was set to match UTC in 1980, but has since diverged. The lack of corrections means that GPS time remains at a constant offset with International Atomic Time (TAI) (TAI GPS = 19 seconds). Periodic corrections are performed to the on-board clocks to keep them synchronized with ground clocks.[104] The GPS navigation message includes the difference between GPS time and UTC. As of July 2012, GPS time is 16 seconds ahead of UTC because of the leap second added to UTC June 30, 2012.[105] Receivers subtract this offset from GPS time to calculate UTC and specific timezone values. New GPS units may not show the correct UTC time until after receiving the UTC offset message. The GPS-UTC offset field can accommodate 255 leap seconds (eight bits). Accuracy GPS time is theoretically accurate to about 14 nanoseconds.[106] However, most receivers lose accuracy in the interpretation of the signals and are only accurate to 100 nanoseconds.[107][108] Format As opposed to the year, month, and day format of the Gregorian calendar, the GPS date is expressed as a week number and a seconds-into-week number. The week number is transmitted as a ten-bit field in the C/A and P(Y) navigation messages, and so it becomes zero again every 1,024 weeks (19.6 years). GPS week zero started at 00:00:00 UTC (00:00:19 TAI) on January 6, 1980, and the week number became zero again for the first time at 23:59:47 UTC on August 21, 1999 (00:00:19 TAI on August 22, 1999). To determine the current Gregorian date, a GPS receiver must be provided with the approximate date (to within 3,584 days) to correctly translate the GPS date signal. To address this concern the modernized GPS navigation message uses a 13bit field that only repeats every 8,192 weeks (157 years), thus lasting until the year 2137 (157 years after GPS week zero).
Carrier phase tracking (surveying)

Another method that is used in surveying applications is carrier phase tracking. The period of the carrier frequency multiplied by the speed of light gives the wavelength, which is about 0.19 meters for the L1 carrier. Accuracy within 1% of wavelength in detecting the leading edge reduces this component of pseudorange error to as little as 2 millimeters. This compares to 3 meters for the C/A code and 0.3 meters for the P code. However, 2 millimeter accuracy requires measuring the total phasethe number of waves multiplied by the wavelength plus the fractional wavelength, which requires specially equipped receivers. This method has many surveying applications.

Triple differencing followed by numerical root finding, and a mathematical technique called least squares can estimate the position of one receiver given the position of another. First, compute the difference between satellites, then between receivers, and finally between epochs. Other orders of taking differences are equally valid. Detailed discussion of the errors is omitted. The satellite carrier total phase can be measured with ambiguity as to the number of cycles. Let denote the phase of the carrier of satellite j measured by receiver i at time . This notation shows the meaning of the subscripts i, j, and k. The receiver (r), satellite (s), and time (t) come in alphabetical order as arguments of and to balance readability and conciseness, let be a concise abbreviation. Also we define three functions, : , which return differences between receivers, satellites, and time points, respectively. Each function has variables with three subscripts as its arguments. These three functions are defined below. If is a function of the three integer arguments, i, j, and k then it is a valid argument for the functions, : , with the values defined as
, , and .

Also if then

are valid arguments for the three functions and a and b are constants is a valid argument with values defined as
, , and .

Receiver clock errors can be approximately eliminated by differencing the phases measured from satellite 1 with that from satellite 2 at the same epoch.[109] This difference is designated as

Double differencing[110] computes the difference of receiver 1's satellite difference from that of receiver 2. This approximately eliminates satellite clock errors. This double difference is:

Triple differencing[111] subtracts the receiver difference from time 1 from that of time 2. This eliminates the ambiguity associated with the integral number of wavelengths in carrier phase

provided this ambiguity does not change with time. Thus the triple difference result eliminates practically all clock bias errors and the integer ambiguity. Atmospheric delay and satellite ephemeris errors have been significantly reduced. This triple difference is:

Triple difference results can be used to estimate unknown variables. For example if the position of receiver 1 is known but the position of receiver 2 unknown, it may be possible to estimate the position of receiver 2 using numerical root finding and least squares. Triple difference results for three independent time pairs quite possibly will be sufficient to solve for receiver 2's three position components. This may require the use of a numerical procedure.[112][113] An approximation of receiver 2's position is required to use such a numerical method. This initial value can probably be provided from the navigation message and the intersection of sphere surfaces. Such a reasonable estimate can be key to successful multidimensional root finding. Iterating from three time pairs and a fairly good initial value produces one observed triple difference result for receiver 2's position. Processing additional time pairs can improve accuracy, overdetermining the answer with multiple solutions. Least squares can estimate an overdetermined system. Least squares determines the position of receiver 2 which best fits the observed triple difference results for receiver 2 positions under the criterion of minimizing the sum of the squares.

Regulatory spectrum issues concerning GPS receivers

In the United States, GPS receivers are regulated under the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Part 15 rules. As indicated in the manuals of GPS-enabled devices sold in the United States, as a Part 15 device, it "must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation."[114] With respect to GPS devices in particular, the FCC states that GPS receiver manufacturers, "must use receivers that reasonably discriminate against reception of signals outside their allocated spectrum."[115] The spectrum allocated for GPS L1 use by the FCC is 1559 to 1610 MHz.[116] Since 1996, the FCC has authorized licensed use of the spectrum neighboring the GPS band of 1525 to 1559 MHz to the Virginia company LightSquared. On March 1, 2001, the FCC received an application from LightSquared's predecessor, Motient Services to use their allocated frequencies for an integrated satellite-terrestrial service.[117] In 2002, the U.S. GPS Industry Council came to an out-of-band-emissions (OOBE) agreement with LightSquared to prevent transmissions from LightSquared's ground-based stations from emitting transmissions into the neighboring GPS band of 1559 to 1610 MHz.[118] In 2004, the FCC adopted the OOBE agreement in its authorization for LightSquared to deploy a ground-based network that used its allocated frequencies of 1525 to 1559 MHz.[119] This authorization was reviewed and approved by the U.S. Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, which includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Interior, and U.S. Department of Transportation.[120]

In January 2011, the FCC conditionally authorized LightSquared's wholesale customers, such as Best Buy, Sharp, and C Spire, to be able to only purchase an integrated satellite-ground-based service from LightSquared and re-sell that integrated service on devices that are equipped to only use the ground-based signal using LightSquared's allocated frequencies of 1525 to 1559 MHz.[121] In December 2010, GPS receiver manufacturers expressed concerns to the FCC that LightSquared's signal would interfere with GPS receiver devices[122] although the FCC's policy considerations leading up to the January 2011 order did not pertain to any proposed changes to the maximum number of ground-based LightSquared stations or the maximum power at which these stations could operate. The January 2011 order makes final authorization contingent upon studies of GPS interference issues carried out by a LightSquared led working group along with GPS industry and Federal agency participation. GPS receiver manufacturers design GPS receivers to use spectrum beyond the GPS-allocated band. In some cases, GPS receivers are designed to use up to 400 MHz of spectrum in either direction of the L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz.[123] However, as regulated under the FCC's Part 15 rules, GPS receivers are not warranted protection from signals outside GPS-allocated spectrum.[115] The FCC adopted rules in February 2003 that allowed Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) licensees such as LightSquared to construct ground-based towers in their licensed spectrum to "promote more efficient use of terrestrial wireless spectrum."[124] In July 2010, the FCC stated that it expected LightSquared to use its authority to offer an integrated satellite-terrestrial service to "provide mobile broadband services similar to those provided by terrestrial mobile providers and enhance competition in the mobile broadband sector."[125] However, GPS receiver manufacturers have argued that LightSquared's licensed spectrum of 1525 to 1559 MHz was never envisioned as being used for high-speed wireless broadband although there is no regulatory or legal backing of this claim.[126] To build public support of efforts to reverse the 2004 FCC authorization of LightSquared's network, GPS receiver manufacturer Trimble Navigation Ltd. formed the "Coalition To Save Our GPS."[127] The FCC and LightSquared have each made public commitments to solve the GPS interference issue before the network is allowed to operate.[128][129] However, according to Chris Dancy of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, airline pilots with the type of systems that would be affected "may go off course and not even realize it."[130] The problems could also affect the Federal Aviation Administration upgrade to the air traffic control system, United States Defense Department guidance, and local emergency services including 911.[130] On February 14, 2012, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to bar LightSquared's planned national broadband network after being informed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the federal agency that coordinates spectrum uses for the military and other federal government entities, that "there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time".[131][132] LightSquared is challenging the FCC's action.

Other systems

Comparison of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Compass (medium earth orbit) satellite navigation system orbits with the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and Iridium constellation orbits, Geostationary Earth Orbit, and the nominal size of the Earth.[c] The Moon's orbit is around 9 times larger (in radius and length) than geostationary orbit.[d]

Other satellite navigation systems in use or various states of development include:

GLONASS Russia's global navigation system. Fully operational worldwide. Galileo a global system being developed by the European Union and other partner countries, planned to be operational by 2014 (and fully deployed by 2019) Beidou People's Republic of China's regional system, currently limited to Asia and the West Pacific[133] COMPASS People's Republic of China's global system, planned to be operational by 2020[134][135] IRNSS India's regional navigation system, planned to be operational by 2014, covering India and Northern Indian Ocean[136] QZSS Japanese regional system covering Asia and Oceania

Plan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Plan (disambiguation).

A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. See also strategy. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. For spatial or planar topologic or topographic sets see map. Plans can be formal or informal:

Structured and formal plans, used by multiple people, are more likely to occur in projects, diplomacy, careers, economic development, military campaigns, combat, sports, games, or in the conduct of other business. In most cases, the absence of a well-laid plan can have adverse effects: for example, a non-robust project plan can cost the organization time and money.[1][2] Informal or ad hoc plans are created by individuals in all of their pursuits.

The most popular ways to describe plans are by their breadth, time frame, and specificity; however, these planning classifications are not independent of one another. For instance, there is a close relationship between the short- and long-term categories and the strategic and operational categories. It is common for less formal plans to be created as abstract ideas, and remain in that form as they are maintained and put to use. More formal plans as used for business and military purposes, while initially created with and as an abstract thought, are likely to be written down, drawn up or otherwise stored in a form that is accessible to multiple people across time and space. This allows more reliable collaboration in the execution of the plan.

Contents

1 Plan topics o 1.1 Planning o 1.2 Planners o 1.3 Methodology 2 Examples of plans 3 Quotations 4 See also 5 References

Plan topics
Planning

The term planning implies the working out of sub-components in some degree of elaborate detail. Broader-brush enunciations of objectives may qualify as metaphorical roadmaps. Planning literally just means the creation of a plan; it can be as simple as making a list. It has acquired a technical meaning, however, to cover the area of government legislation and regulations related to the use of resources. Planning can refer to the planned use of any and all resources, as in the succession of Five-Year Plans through which the government of the Soviet Union sought to develop the country. However, the term is most frequently used in relation to planning for the use of land and related resources, for example in urban planning, transportation planning, etc. Thus, in a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to mean the regulation of land use. See also zoning.
Planners

Planners are the professionals that have the requisite training to take or make decisions that will help or balance the society.

Methodology

The discipline of planning has occupied great minds and theoreticians. Concepts such as topdown planning (as opposed to bottom-up planning) reveal similarities with the systems thinking behind the top-down model. The subject touches such broad fields as psychology, game theory, communications and information theory, which inform the planning methods that people seek to use and refine; as well as logic and science (i.e. methodological naturalism) which serve as a means of testing different parts of a plan for reliability or consistency. The specific methods used to create and refine plans depends on who is to make it, who is to put it to use, and what resources are available for the task. The methods used by an individual in their mind or personal organizer, may be very different from the collection of planning techniques found in a corporate board-room, and the planning done by a project manager has different priorities and uses different tools to the planning done by an engineer or industrial designer.

Examples of plans

Architectural plan Business plan Fragplan Health plan Marketing plan Project plan Plan de Ayala Plan de Casa Mata Plan de Crdoba Plan de Iguala Plan de San Luis Potos Site plan The Schlieffen Plan The Five-Year Plan system in the former Soviet Union The Marshall Plan U.S. plan to invade Iraq A very basic example of a plan: Perhaps you want to go see a movie at a specific time, that is the plan. The procedure to accomplish the plan would define the steps to be taken in order. First, you would look on a Web site for listings of movies in your area, then you would decide which one looks good (if any). Then you would secure transportation thereto, optionally but almost certainly also inviting one or more acquaintances to join you. You may have to adjust your time to when the movie actually starts. A plan defines what you are going to do. A procedure defines how you are going to do it.

Quotations

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential Winston Churchill Plans are nothing; planning is everything. Dwight D. Eisenhower No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Helmuth von Moltke the Elder A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week. George S. Patton

Sketch (drawing)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Sketch (disambiguation).

Jesus and the Adulteress. A sketched figure composition by Rembrandt van Rijn

Charcoal sketch of willows by Thomas Gainsborough

A sketch (ultimately from Greek schedios, "done extempore"[1][2][3]) is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work.[4] A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might record or develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image, idea or principle. Sketches can be made in any drawing medium. The term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry media such as silverpoint, graphite, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water colour and oil paint. The latter two are generally referred to as "water colour sketches" and "oil sketches". A sculptor might model three-dimensional sketches in clay, plasticine or wax.

Contents

1 Applications of sketching 2 See also 3 Gallery 4 References 5 External links

Applications of sketching
Sketching is generally a prescribed part of the studies of art students.[5] This generally includes making sketches (croquis) from a live model whose pose changes every few minutes. A "sketch" usually implies a quick and loosely drawn work, while related terms such as study, modello and "preparatory drawing" usually refer to more finished and careful works to be used as a basis for a final work, often in a different medium, but the distinction is imprecise. Underdrawing is drawing underneath the final work, which may sometimes still be visible, or can be viewed by modern scientific methods such as x rays.

Most visual artists use, to a greater or lesser degree, the sketch as a method of recording or working out ideas. The sketchbooks of some individual artists have become very well known,[4] including those of Leonardo da Vinci and Edgar Degas which have become art objects in their own right, with many pages showing finished studies as well as sketches. The term "sketchbook" refers to a book of blank paper on which an artist can, (or has already) drawn sketches. The book might be purchased bound or might comprise loose leaves of sketches assembled or bound together.[6] The ability to quickly record impressions through sketching has found varied purposes in today's culture. Courtroom sketches record scenes and individuals in law courts. Sketches drawn to help authorities find or identify wanted people are called composite sketches. Street artists in popular tourist areas sketch portraits within minutes.[5]

See also

Doodle Multi-Sketch Etch A Sketch, a toy

Gallery
Subjects, styles and media

Three draft sketches in sepia for an equestrian monument, Leonardo da Vinci 1508-10

Sketch in pen and ink of an idea for a flying machine with a spiral rotor, Leonardo da Vinci.

Sketch of a head in a parade helmet, Michelangelo, c. 1500

Figure sketch in ink of two women teaching a baby to walk, Carel Fabritius, c. 1640

Sketch in pencil and ink of the Piazetta, Venice, Canaletto, c. 1730

The Pasha, an ink sketch by Fragonard, late 1700s

An oil sketch of clouds by John Constable, 1821-22

A sketch of a landscape in pencil by Camille Corot, 1870

Nocturene-Battersea Bridge, a pastel sketch by Whistler, 1872

Le Bouchon, a brush and ink sketch by Manet, 1878

A girl in a rowing boat, pencil, ink and watercolour, Renoir, 1870s

A landscape sketch in brush and ink with washes, Paul Cezanne, (1888-90)

Oil sketch Child in a hat with a black rosette, Mary Cassat, 1910

Sketch of a reclining nude in brush and ink washes, Lajos Tihanyi, 1910

Girl Knitting by the Sea, pencil and watercolour by Theo van Doesburg, 1918

Two ink sketches of Krishna playing the Flute, van Doesburg, early 20th century

Sketch of a male nude in black crayon, Egon Schiele, 1918

Watercolour landscape sketch, John Weeks, c. 1950

Court sketch from the New Haven Black Panther trials, Robert Templeton, 1971

Digital sketch of Zen stones, by F. Cecconi, 2011

Doodle

Doodle by Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia, c. 1795

A doodle is an unfocused or unconscious drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes. Stereotypical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students daydreaming or losing interest during class. Other common examples of doodling are produced during long telephone conversations if a pen and paper are available. Popular kinds of doodles include cartoon versions of teachers or companions in a school, famous TV or comic characters, invented fictional beings, landscapes, geometric shapes and patterns, textures, banners with legends, and animations made by drawing a scene sequence in various pages of a book or notebook. Many geometric doodles are really subdivision rules, where you repeat the same pattern over and over in a nested way.

An example of a geometric doodle made by using subdivision rules.

Contents

1 Etymology 2 Effects on memory 3 Notable doodlers 4 See also o 4.1 Footnotes 5 References

Etymology
The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton.[1] It may derive from the German Dudeltopf or Dudeldop, meaning simpleton or noodle (literally "nightcap").[1] The meaning "fool, simpleton" is intended in the song title "Yankee Doodle", originally sung by British colonial troops prior to the American Revolutionary War. This is also the origin of the early eighteenth century verb to doodle, meaning "to swindle or to make a fool of". The modern meaning emerged in the 1930s either from this meaning or from the verb "to dawdle", which since the seventeenth century has had the meaning of wasting time or being lazy. In the movie Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Deeds mentions that "doodle" was a word made up to describe scribblings to help a person think. According to the DVD audio commentary track, the word as used in this sense was invented by screenwriter Robert Riskin.

Effects on memory
According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodling can aid a person's memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain's processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps

focus on the current situation. The study was done by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, who reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers.[2]

Notable doodlers
Many American Presidents (including Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton) have been known to doodle during meetings.[3] Poet and physician John Keats doodled in the margins of his medical notes; other literary doodlers have included Samuel Beckett and Sylvia Plath.[4] Mathematician Stanislaw Ulam developed the Ulam spiral for visualization of prime numbers while doodling during a boring presentation at a mathematics conference. Doodling is a recurring device in the comedy of Larry David. In the 8th episode of Season 5 of Curb Your Enthusiasm David states that he "can't draw to save my life but yet I'm a very good doodler."[5] The long-running comedy series Seinfeld, created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld includes a notable episode entitled "The Doodle", in which a crude drawing of George Costanza provides the mise en scne for subsequent friction between characters.

Drawing

Pen and wash lion by Rembrandt in the Louvre

Two young women practicing drawing in front of the Barberini Faun in Munich

Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Instruments used include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, various kinds of erasers, markers, styluses, and various metals (such as silverpoint). An artist who practices or works in drawing may be called a draftsman or draughtsman.[1] A small amount of material is released onto the two dimensional medium, leaving a visible mark. The most common support for drawing is paper, although other materials, such as cardboard, plastic, leather, canvas, and board, may be used. Temporary drawings may be made on a blackboard or whiteboard or indeed almost anything. The medium has been a popular and fundamental means of public expression throughout human history. It is one of the simplest and most efficient means of communicating visual ideas.[2] The wide availability of drawing instruments makes drawing more common than other media.

Contents

1 Overview 2 History o 2.1 Notable draftsmen 3 Materials 4 Technique

5 Tone 6 Form and proportion 7 Perspective 8 Artistry 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

Overview

Madame Palmyre with Her Dog, 1897. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Drawing is one of the major forms of expression within the visual arts, and is generally concerned with the marking of lines and areas of tone onto paper. Traditional drawings were monochrome, or at least had little colour,[3] while modern colored-pencil drawings may approach or cross a boundary between drawing and painting. In Western terminology, drawing is distinct from painting, even though similar media often are employed in both tasks. Dry media, normally associated with drawing, such as chalk, may be used in pastel paintings. Drawing may be done with a liquid medium, applied with brushes or pens. Similar supports likewise can serve both: painting generally involves the application of liquid paint onto prepared canvas or panels, but sometimes an underdrawing is drawn first on that same support. Drawing is often exploratory, with considerable emphasis on observation, problem-solving and composition. Drawing is also regularly used in preparation for a painting, further obfuscating their distinction. Drawings created for these purposes are called studies. There are several categories of drawing, including figure drawing, cartooning, doodling and shading. There are also many drawing methods, such as line drawing, stippling, shading, the

surrealist method of entopic graphomania (in which dots are made at the sites of impurities in a blank sheet of paper, and lines are then made between the dots), and tracing (drawing on a translucent paper, such as tracing paper, around the outline of preexisting shapes that show through the paper). A quick, unrefined drawing may be called a sketch. In fields outside art, technical drawings or plans of buildings, machinery, circuitry and other things are often called "drawings" even when they have been transferred to another medium by printing.

History

Andr Masson. Automatic Drawing. 1924. Ink on paper, 23.5 x 20.6 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York

Sketches and paintings have been produced since prehistoric times, as demonstrated by cave and rock paintings. By the 12th to 13th centuries A.D., monks were preparing illuminated manuscripts on vellum and parchment in monasteries throughout Europe and were using lead styli to draw lines for their writings and for the outlines for their illuminations. Soon artists generally were using silverpoint to make drawings and underdrawings. Initially they used and reused wooden tablets with prepared ground for these drawings.[4] When paper became generally available, from the 14th century onwards, artists' drawings, both preparatory studies and finished works, became increasingly common.
Notable draftsmen

Since the 14th century, each century has produced artists who have created great drawings.

Notable draftsmen of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries include Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Drer, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Notable draftsmen of the 17th century include Claude, Nicolas Poussin, Rembrandt, Guercino, and Peter Paul Rubens. Notable draftsmen of the 18th century include Jean-Honor Fragonard, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Antoine Watteau. Notable draftsmen of the 19th century include Paul Czanne, Aubrey Beardsley, Jacques-Louis David, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Edgar Degas, Thodore Gricault, Francisco Goya, Jean Ingres, Odilon Redon, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Honor Daumier, and Vincent van Gogh. Notable draftsmen of the 20th century include Kthe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Jean Dubuffet, George Grosz, Egon Schiele, Arshile Gorky, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Alphonse Mucha, M. C. Escher, Andr Masson, Jules Pascin, and Pablo Picasso.

Materials

Antoine Watteau, trois crayons technique

The medium is the means by which ink, pigment or color are delivered onto the drawing surface. Most drawing media are either dry (e.g. graphite, charcoal, pastels, Cont, silverpoint), or use a fluid solvent or carrier (marker, pen and ink). Watercolor pencils can be used dry like ordinary pencils, then moistened with a wet brush to get various painterly effects. Very rarely, artists have drawn with (usually decoded) invisible ink. Metalpoint drawing usually employs either of two metals: silver or lead.[5] More rarely used are gold, platinum, copper, brass, bronze, and tinpoint. Paper comes in a variety of different sizes and qualities, ranging from newspaper grade up to high quality and relatively expensive paper sold as individual sheets.[6] Papers can vary in texture, hue, acidity, and strength when wet. Smooth paper is good for rendering fine detail, but a more "toothy" paper will hold the drawing material better. Thus a coarser material is useful for producing deeper contrast. Newsprint and typing paper may be useful for practice and rough sketches. Tracing paper is used to experiment over a half-finished drawing, and to transfer a design from one sheet to another. Cartridge paper is the basic type of drawing paper sold in pads. Bristol board and even heavier acid-free boards, frequently with smooth finishes, are used for drawing fine detail and do not distort when wet media (ink, washes) are applied. Vellum is extremely smooth and suitable for very fine detail. Coldpressed watercolor paper may be favored for ink drawing due to its texture.

Acid-free, archival quality paper keeps its color and texture far longer than wood pulp based paper such as newsprint, which will turn yellow and become brittle much sooner. The basic tools are a drawing board or table, pencil sharpener and eraser, and for ink drawing, blotting paper. Other tools used are circle compass, ruler, and set square. Fixative is used to prevent pencil and crayon marks from smudging. Drafting tape is used to secure paper to drawing surface, and also to mask an area to keep it free of accidental marks sprayed or spattered materials and washes. An easel or slanted table is used to keep the drawing surface in a suitable position, which is generally more horizontal than the position used in painting.

Technique

Raphael, study for what became the Alba Madonna, with other sketches

Almost all draftsmen use their hands and fingers to apply the media, with the exception of some handicapped individuals who draw with their mouth or feet.[citation needed] Prior to working on an image, the artist will likely want to gain an understanding of how the various media will work. The different drawing implements can be tried on practice sheets in order to determine value and texture, and how to apply the implement in order to produce various effects. The drawing strokes used control the appearance of the image. Pen and ink drawings often use hatching, which consists of groups of parallel lines.[7] Crosshatching uses hatching in two or more different directions to create a darker tone. Broken hatching, or lines with intermittent breaks, can be used to form lighter tones, and by controlling the density of the breaks a gradation of tone can be achieved. Stippling, uses dots to produce tone, texture or shade. Different textures can be achieved depending on the method used to build tone.[8] Drawings in dry media often use similar techniques, although with pencils and drawing sticks continuous variations in tone can be achieved. Typically a drawing will be filled in based on which hand the artist favors. A right-handed artist will want to draw from left to right in order to avoid smearing the image. Erasers can be used with many media to remove unwanted lines, lighten tones and clean up stray marks. In a sketch or outline drawing, the lines drawn often follow the contour of the subject being drawn, creating depth by looking like shadows cast from a light in the artist's position.

Sometimes the artist will want to leave a section of the image untouched while filling in the remainder of the picture. The shape of the area to be preserved can be painted on with masking fluid or cut out of a frisket and applied to the drawing surface, protecting the surface from stray marks until the mask is removed. Another method to preserve a section of the image is to apply a spray-on fixative to the surface. This will hold loose material more firmly to the sheet and prevent it from smearing. However the fixative spray typically uses chemicals that can harm the respiratory system, so it should be employed in a well-ventilated area such as outdoors.

Tone

Line drawing in sanguine by Leonardo da Vinci

Shading is the technique of varying the tonal values on the paper to represent the shade of the material as well as the placement of the shadows. Careful attention to reflected light, shadows and highlights can result in a very realistic rendition of the image. Blending uses an implement to soften or spread the original drawing strokes. Blending is most easily done with a medium that does not immediately fix itself, such as graphite, chalk, or charcoal, although freshly applied ink can be smudged, wet or dry, for some effects. For shading and blending, the artist can use a blending stump, tissue, a kneaded eraser, a fingertip, or any combination of them. A piece of chamois is useful for creating smooth textures, and for removing material to lighten the tone. Continuous tone can be achieved with graphite on a smooth surface without blending, but the technique is laborious, involving small circular or oval strokes with a somewhat blunt point. Shading techniques that also introduce texture to the drawing include hatching and stippling. There are a number of other methods for producing texture in the picture: in addition to choosing

a suitable paper, the type of drawing material and the drawing technique will result in different textures. Texture can be made to appear more realistic when it is drawn next to a contrasting texture; a coarse texture will be more obvious when placed next to a smoothly blended area. A similar effect can be achieved by drawing different tones close together; a light edge next to a dark background will stand out to the eye, and almost appear to float above the surface.

Form and proportion

Pencil portrait by Ingres

Measuring the dimensions of a subject while blocking in the drawing is an important step in producing a realistic rendition of the subject. Tools such as a compass can be used to measure the angles of different sides. These angles can be reproduced on the drawing surface and then rechecked to make sure they are accurate. Another form of measurement is to compare the relative sizes of different parts of the subject with each other. A finger placed at a point along the drawing implement can be used to compare that dimension with other parts of the image. A ruler can be used both as a straightedge and a device to compute proportions. When attempting to draw a complicated shape such as a human figure, it is helpful at first to represent the form with a set of primitive shapes. Almost any form can be represented by some combination of the cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone. Once these basic shapes have been assembled into a likeness, then the drawing can be refined into a more accurate and polished form. The lines of the primitive shapes are removed and replaced by the final likeness. Drawing the underlying construction is a fundamental skill for representational art and is taught in many books and schools, as its correct application will resolve most uncertainties about smaller details and make the final image look self-consistent.[9] A more refined art of figure drawing relies upon the artist possessing a deep understanding of anatomy and the human proportions. A trained artist is familiar with the skeleton structure, joint location, muscle placement, tendon movement, and how the different parts work together during movement. This allows the artist to render more natural poses that do not appear artificially stiff.

The artist is also familiar with how the proportions vary depending on the age of the subject, particularly when drawing a portrait.

Perspective
Linear perspective is a method of portraying objects on a flat surface so that the dimensions shrink with distance. Each set of parallel, straight edges of any object, whether a building or a table, will follow lines that eventually converge at a vanishing point. Typically this point of convergence will be along the horizon, as buildings are built level with the flat surface. When multiple structures are aligned with each other, such as buildings along a street, the horizontal tops and bottoms of the structures will all typically converge at a vanishing point.

Two-point perspective drawing

When both the fronts and sides of a building are drawn, then the parallel lines forming a side converge at a second point along the horizon (which may be off the drawing paper.) This is a two-point perspective.[10] Converging the vertical lines to a third point above or below the horizon then produces a three-point perspective. Depth can also be portrayed by several techniques in addition to the perspective approach above. Objects of similar size should appear ever smaller the further they are from the viewer. Thus the back wheel of a cart will appear slightly smaller than the front wheel. Depth can be portrayed through the use of texture. As the texture of an object gets further away it becomes more compressed and busy, taking on an entirely different character than if it was close. Depth can also be portrayed by reducing the contrast in more distant objects, and by making their colors less saturated. This will reproduce the effect of atmospheric haze, and cause the eye to focus primarily on objects drawn in the foreground.

Artistry
Chiaroscuro study drawing by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The composition of the image is an important element in producing an interesting work of artistic merit. The artist plans the placement of elements in the art in order to communicate ideas and feelings with the viewer. The composition can determine the focus of the art, and result in a harmonious whole that is aesthetically appealing and stimulating. The illumination of the subject is also a key element in creating an artistic piece, and the interplay of light and shadow is a valuable method in the artist's toolbox. The placement of the light sources can make a considerable difference in the type of message that is being presented. Multiple light sources can wash out any wrinkles in a person's face, for instance, and give a more youthful appearance. In contrast, a single light source, such as harsh daylight, can serve to highlight any texture or interesting features. When drawing an object or figure, the skilled artist pays attention to both the area within the silhouette and what lies outside. The exterior is termed the negative space, and can be as important in the representation as the figure. Objects placed in the background of the figure should appear properly placed wherever they can be viewed. A study is a draft drawing that is made in preparation for a planned final image. Studies can be used to determine the appearances of specific parts of the completed image, or for experimenting with the best approach for accomplishing the end goal. However a well-crafted study can be a piece of art in its own right, and many hours of careful work can go into completing a study.

See also

Picture produced by Drawing Machine 2, an image generated from a mathematical model Main article: Outline of drawing and drawings

Academy figure Architectural drawing Color theory

Composition Diagram Digital illustration Engineering drawing Figure drawing Generative art (computer-generated art) GPS drawing Graphic design Illustration Multi-Sketch Pen Sketch (drawing) Technical drawing Traditional animation Lettering template

References
1. Jump up ^ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/draftsman 2. Jump up ^ www.sbctc.edu (adapted). "Module 6: Media for 2-D Art". Saylor.org. Retrieved 2 April 2012. 3. Jump up ^ See grisaille and chiaroscuro 4. Jump up ^ See the discussion on erasable drawing boards and 'tafeletten' in van de Wetering, Ernst. Rembrandt: The Painter at Work. 5. Jump up ^ Cennino Cennini, The Craftsman's Handbook (Il Libra dell'Arte), trans. David V. Thompson, Jr. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1933 6. Jump up ^ Mayer, Ralph. The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. Viking. ISBN 0-67083701-6. 7. Jump up ^ This use of hatching is to be distinguished from the use of a hatching system in heraldry to indicate tincture (i.e. what "color", in layman's language, the arms are) in a monochromatic context.) 8. Jump up ^ Guptill, Arthur L. (1930). Drawing with Pen and Ink. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation. 9. Jump up ^ Hale, Robert Beverly (1964). Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters (45th Anniversary Edition ed.). Watson-Guptill Publications (published 2009). ISBN 978-0-8230-1401-9. 10. Jump up ^ Watson, Ernest W. (1978). Course in Pencil Sketching: Four Books in One. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. pp. 167175. ISBN 0-442-29229-5.

Blueprint

Modern blueprint of the French galleon La Belle.

Architectural drawing, 1902

Architectural drawing, Canada, 1936

A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design, using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Invented in the 19th century, the process allowed rapid and accurate reproduction of documents used in construction and industry. The blue-print process was characterized by light colored lines on a blue background, a negative of the original. The process was unable to reproduce color or shades of grey. Various base materials have been used for blueprints. Paper was a common choice; for more durable prints linen was sometimes used, but with time, the linen prints would shrink slightly. To combat this problem, printing on imitation vellum and, later, polyester film (Mylar) was implemented. The process has been largely displaced by the diazo whiteprint process and by large-format xerographic photocopiers, so reproduced drawings are usually called "prints" or just "drawings".

Contents

1 The blueprint process 2 Replacements for blueprints 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading

The blueprint process

In 1861 Alphonse Louis Poitevin, a French chemist, found that ferro-gallate in gum is light sensitive.[1] Light turns this to an insoluble permanent blue. A coating of this chemical on a paper or other base may be used to reproduce an image from a translucent document. The ferro-gallate is coated onto a paper from aqueous solution and dried. The coating is yellow. In darkness it is stable for up to three days. It is clamped under glass and a light transmitting document in a daylight exposure frame, which is similar to a picture frame. The frame is put out into daylight requiring a minute or two under a bright sun or about ten times this under an overcast sky. Where ultra-violet light is transmitted the coating converts to a stable blue or black dye. The image can be seen forming, when a strong image is seen the frame is brought indoors and the unconverted coating, under the original image, is washed away. The paper is then dried. The result is a copy of the original image with the clear background area rendered dark blue and the image reproduced as a white line. The image is stable. The contact printing process has the advantage that no large-field optical system is required. A further advantage is that the reproduced document will have the same scale as the original. Another quality is that the dark blue background makes it difficult to add new information to the print (such as recording as-built changes); a blueprint cannot easily be altered -- depending on the situation, this can be either a strength or a drawback. Since the paper is soaked in liquid during processing, a minor change of

scale can occur,and the paper can also become brittle. Engineering drawings often are marked to remind users not to rely on the scale of reproductions. [2] Other blueprint processes based on photosensitive ferric compounds have been used. The best known is probably a process using ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide.[3] In this procedure a distinctly blue compound is formed and the process is also known as cyanotype. The paper is impregnated with a solution of ammonium ferric citrate and dried. When the paper is illuminated a photoreaction turns the trivalent (ferric) iron into divalent (ferrous) iron. The image is then developed using a solution of potassium ferricyanide forming insoluble ferroferricyanide (Turnball's blue identical to Prussian blue) with the divalent iron. Excess ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide are then washed away. This is a simple process for the reproduction of any light transmitting document. Engineers and architects drew their designs on cartridge paper; these were then traced on to tracing paper using Indian ink for reproduction whenever needed. Introduction of the blueprint process eliminated the expense of photolithographic reproduction or of hand-tracing of original drawings. By the latter 1890s in American architectural offices, a blueprint was one-tenth the cost of a hand-traced reproduction. [4] The blueprint process is still used for special artistic and photographic effects, on paper and fabrics. [5]

Replacements for blueprints

Traditional blueprints have largely been replaced by more modern, less expensive printing methods and digital displays. In the early 1940s, cyanotype blueprint began to be supplanted by diazo prints, also known as whiteprints, which have blue lines on a white background; thus these drawings are also called blue-lines or bluelines. Other comparable dye-based prints are known as blacklines. Diazo prints remain in use in some applications but in many cases have been replaced by xerographic print processes similar to standard copy machine technology using toner on bond paper. More recently, designs created using computer-aided design techniques may be transferred as a digital file directly to a computer printer or plotter; in some applications paper is avoided altogether and work and analysis is done directly from digital displays. Another common modern method of copying is the use of large-format scanners. These digitize an image which can then be printed with a large-format plotter. As print and display technology has advanced, the traditional term "blueprint" has continued to be used informally to refer to each type of image.

3D modeling
3D computer graphics

Basics

3D modeling / 3D scanning 3D rendering / 3D printing 3D computer graphics software

Primary Uses

3D models / Computer-aided design

Graphic design / Video games

Visual effects / Visualization Virtual cinematography

Virtual engineering / Virtual reality

Related concepts

CGI / Animation / 3D display

Wireframe model / Texture mapping Computer animation / Motion capture Skeletal animation / Crowd simulation Global illumination / Volume rendering

v t e

In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object (either inanimate or living) via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model. It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena. The model can also be physically created using 3D printing devices. Models may be created automatically or manually. The manual modeling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics is similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. Recently, new concepts in 3D modeling have started to emerge. Recently, a new technology departing from the traditional techniques starts to emerge, such as Curve Controlled Modeling [1] that emphasizes the modeling of the movement of a 3D object instead of the traditional modeling of the static shape.

Contents

1 Models o 1.1 Representation o 1.2 Notable concepts and abbreviations 2 Scaling o 2.1 Matrix representation o 2.2 Using homogeneous coordinates 3 Modeling process 4 Compared to 2D methods 5 3D model market

6 3D printing 7 Human models 8 See also 9 References

Models

3D model of a spectrograph[2]

3D models represent a 3D object using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Being a collection of data (points and other information), 3D models can be created by hand, algorithmically (procedural modeling), or scanned. 3D models are widely used anywhere in 3D graphics. Actually, their use predates the widespread use of 3D graphics on personal computers. Many computer games used pre-rendered images of 3D models as sprites before computers could render them in real-time. Today, 3D models are used in a wide variety of fields. The medical industry uses detailed models of organs. The movie industry uses them as characters and objects for animated and real-life motion pictures. The video game industry uses them as assets for computer and video games. The science sector uses them as highly detailed models of chemical compounds.[3] The architecture industry uses them to demonstrate proposed buildings and landscapes through Software Architectural Models. The engineering community uses them as designs of new devices, vehicles and structures as well as a host of other uses. In recent decades the earth science community has started to construct 3D geological models as a standard practice.

Representation

A modern render of the iconic Utah teapot model developed by Martin Newell (1975). The Utah teapot is one of the most common models used in 3D graphics education.

Almost all 3D models can be divided into two categories.

Solid - These models define the volume of the object they represent (like a rock). These are more realistic, but more difficult to build. Solid models are mostly used for nonvisual simulations such as medical and engineering simulations, for CAD and specialized visual applications such as ray tracing and constructive solid geometry Shell/boundary - these models represent the surface, e.g. the boundary of the object, not its volume (like an infinitesimally thin eggshell). These are easier to work with than solid models. Almost all visual models used in games and film are shell models.

Because the appearance of an object depends largely on the exterior of the object, boundary representations are common in computer graphics. Two dimensional surfaces are a good analogy for the objects used in graphics, though quite often these objects are non-manifold. Since surfaces are not finite, a discrete digital approximation is required: polygonal meshes (and to a lesser extent subdivision surfaces) are by far the most common representation, although pointbased representations have been gaining some popularity in recent years. Level sets are a useful representation for deforming surfaces which undergo many topological changes such as fluids. The process of transforming representations of objects, such as the middle point coordinate of a sphere and a point on its circumference into a polygon representation of a sphere, is called tessellation. This step is used in polygon-based rendering, where objects are broken down from abstract representations ("primitives") such as spheres, cones etc., to so-called meshes, which are nets of interconnected triangles. Meshes of triangles (instead of e.g. squares) are popular as they have proven to be easy to render using scanline rendering.[4] Polygon representations are not used in all rendering techniques, and in these cases the tessellation step is not included in the transition from abstract representation to rendered scene.
Notable concepts and abbreviations

In 3D modeling there are recurring concepts which usually appear as abbreviations. Here are some of the most current:

CW, center of window, in reference to the visualization window VRP, view reference point VPN, view plane normal VUV, view up vector FOV, field of view VRC, view reference coordinates WCS, world coordinates system

Scaling
Main article: Scaling (geometry) Matrix representation

A scaling can be represented by a scaling matrix. To scale an object by a vector v = (vx, vy, vz), each point p = (px, py, pz) would need to be multiplied with this scaling matrix:

As shown below, the multiplication will give the expected result:

Such a scaling changes the diameter of an object by a factor between the scale factors, the area by a factor between the smallest and the largest product of two scale factors, and the volume by the product of all three. The scaling is uniform if and only if the scaling factors are equal (vx = vy = vz). If all except one of the scale factors are equal to 1, we have directional scaling. In the case where vx = vy = vz = k, the scaling is also called an enlargement or dilation by a factor k, increasing the area by a factor of k2 and the volume by a factor of k3. A scaling in the most general sense is any affine transformation with a diagonalizable matrix. It includes the case that the three directions of scaling are not perpendicular. It includes also the case that one or more scale factors are equal to zero (projection), and the case of one or more negative scale factors. The latter corresponds to a combination of scaling proper and a kind of reflection: along lines in a particular direction we take the reflection in the point of intersection with a plane that need not be perpendicular; therefore it is more general than ordinary reflection in the plane.

Using homogeneous coordinates

In projective geometry, often used in computer graphics, points are represented using homogeneous coordinates. To scale an object by a vector v = (vx, vy, vz), each homogeneous coordinate vector p = (px, py, pz, 1) would need to be multiplied with this projective transformation matrix:

As shown below, the multiplication will give the expected result:

Since the last component of a homogeneous coordinate can be viewed as the denominator of the other three components, a uniform scaling by a common factor s (uniform scaling) can be accomplished by using this scaling matrix:

For each vector p = (px, py, pz, 1) we would have

which would be homogenized to

Modeling process

3D polygonal modeling of a human face.

There are three popular ways to represent a model:

1. Polygonal modeling - Points in 3D space, called vertices, are connected by line segments to form a polygonal mesh. The vast majority of 3D models today are built as textured polygonal models, because they are flexible and because computers can render them so quickly. However, polygons are planar and can only approximate curved surfaces using many polygons. 2. Curve modeling - Surfaces are defined by curves, which are influenced by weighted control points. The curve follows (but does not necessarily interpolate) the points. Increasing the weight for a point will pull the curve closer to that point. Curve types include nonuniform rational Bspline (NURBS), splines, patches and geometric primitives 3. Digital sculpting - Still a fairly new method of modeling, 3D sculpting has become very popular in the few years it has been around.[citation needed] There are currently 3 types of digital sculpting: Displacement, which is the most widely used among applications at this moment, volumetric and dynamic tessellation. Displacement uses a dense model (often generated by Subdivision surfaces of a polygon control mesh) and stores new locations for the vertex positions through use of a 32bit image map that stores the adjusted locations. Volumetric which is based loosely on Voxels has similar capabilities as displacement but does not suffer from polygon stretching when there are not enough polygons in a region to achieve a deformation. Dynamic tesselation Is similar to Voxel but divides the surface using triangulation to maintain a smooth surface and allow finer details. These methods allow for very artistic exploration as the model will have a new topology created over it once the models form and possibly details have been sculpted. The new mesh will usually have the original high resolution mesh information transferred into displacement data or normal map data if for a game engine.

The modeling stage consists of shaping individual objects that are later used in the scene. There are a number of modeling techniques, including:

constructive solid geometry implicit surfaces subdivision surfaces

Modeling can be performed by means of a dedicated program (e.g., Cinema 4D, formZ, Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Lightwave, Modo, solidThinking) or an application component (Shaper, Lofter in 3DS Max) or some scene description language (as in POV-Ray). In some cases, there is no strict distinction between these phases; in such cases modeling is just part of the scene creation process (this is the case, for example, with Caligari trueSpace and Realsoft 3D). Complex materials such as blowing sand, clouds, and liquid sprays are modeled with particle systems, and are a mass of 3D coordinates which have either points, polygons, texture splats, or sprites assigned to them.

Compared to 2D methods

A fully textured and lit rendering of a 3D model.

3D photorealistic effects are often achieved without wireframe modeling and are sometimes indistinguishable in the final form. Some graphic art software includes filters that can be applied to 2D vector graphics or 2D raster graphics on transparent layers. Advantages of wireframe 3D modeling over exclusively 2D methods include:

Flexibility, ability to change angles or animate images with quicker rendering of the changes; Ease of rendering, automatic calculation and rendering photorealistic effects rather than mentally visualizing or estimating; Accurate photorealism, less chance of human error in misplacing, overdoing, or forgetting to include a visual effect.

Disadvantages compare to 2D photorealistic rendering may include a software learning curve and difficulty achieving certain photorealistic effects. Some photorealistic effects may be achieved with special rendering filters included in the 3D modeling software. For the best of both worlds, some artists use a combination of 3D modeling followed by editing the 2D computerrendered images from the 3D model.

3D model market
A large market for 3D models (as well as 3D-related content, such as textures, scripts, etc.) still exists - either for individual models or large collections. Online marketplaces for 3D content, such as TurboSquid, The3DStudio, CreativeCrash, CGTrader, NoneCG, CGPeopleNetwork and DAZ 3D, allow individual artists to sell content that they have created. Often, the artists' goal is to get additional value out of assets they have previously created for projects. By doing so, artists can earn more money out of their old content, and companies can save money by buying premade models instead of paying an employee to create one from scratch. These marketplaces typically split the sale between themselves and the artist that created the asset, artists get 40% to 95% of the sales according the marketplace. In most cases, the artist retains ownership of the 3d model; the customer only buys the right to use and present the model.[5] Some artists sell their products directly in its own stores offering their products at a lower price by not using intermediaries.

3D printing
Main articles: 3D printing and Rapid prototyping

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material.

Human models
Main article: virtual actor

The first widely available commercial application of human virtual models appeared in 1998 on the Lands' End web site. The human virtual models were created by the company My Virtual Model Inc. and enabled users to create a model of themselves and try on 3D clothing. There are several modern programs that allow for the creation of virtual human models (Poser being one example).

Eraser

Pink erasers

An eraser (US and Canada) or rubber (elsewhere) is an article of stationery that is used for removing pencil markings. Erasers have a rubbery consistency and are typically pink or white. Most pencils have an eraser on one end. Typical erasers are made from synthetic rubber, but more expensive or specialized erasers are vinyl, plastic, or gum-like materials. Cheaper erasers can be made out of synthetic soy-based gum.

Contents

1 History 2 Types o 2.1 Art gum erasers o 2.2 Kneaded erasers o 2.3 Poster putty o 2.4 Electric erasers o 2.5 Soft vinyl erasers o 2.6 Other 3 See also 4 References o 4.1 Bibliography 5 External links

History

A pencil eraser

Before rubber erasers, tablets of rubber or wax were used to erase lead or charcoal marks from paper. Bits of rough stone such as sandstone or pumice were used to remove small errors from parchment or papyrus documents written in ink. Crustless bread was used as an eraser in the past; a Meiji-era (1868-1912) Tokyo student said: "Bread erasers were used in place of rubber erasers, and so they would give them to us with no restriction on amount. So we thought nothing of taking these and eating a firm part to at least slightly satisfy our hunger."[1] On April 15, 1770, Joseph Priestley described a vegetable gum to remove pencil marks: "I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil." He dubbed the substance "rubber".[2][3] In 1770, Edward Nairne, an English engineer, is credited with developing the first widelymarketed rubber eraser for an inventions competition. He sold natural rubber erasers for the high price of three shillings per half-inch cube. According to Nairne, he inadvertently picked up a piece of rubber instead of breadcrumbs, discovered rubber's erasing properties, and began selling rubber erasers. Incidentally, that was the first practical application of the substance in Europe, and rubbing out the pencil marks gave it its English name. However, raw rubber shared the same inconveniences as bread, since it was perishable. In 1839, inventor Charles Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanization, a method that would cure rubber and make it a durable material. Rubber erasers became common with this advent of vulcanization. On March 30, 1858, Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia, USA, received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil. It was later invalidated because it was determined to be simply a composite of two devices rather than an entirely new product.[4] Erasers may be rectangular blocks (block and wedge eraser), or conical caps that can slip onto the end of a pencil (cap eraser). A barrel or click eraser is a device shaped like a pencil, but instead of being filled with pencil lead, its barrel contains a retractable cylinder of eraser material (most commonly soft vinyl). Novelty erasers, in a dual role as figurines (such as musical notes, animals, confectionery), are mostly decorative, as their hard vinyl tends to smear heavy markings.

Further information: Palimpsest

Types
Art gum erasers

Two kneaded erasers. A new eraser is on the left, and an older eraser on the right. The older eraser is darker due to the graphite and charcoal dust that has become incorporated into the eraser.

An eraser type that is popular with artists is the art gum eraser, made of soft, coarse rubber. It is especially suited to removing large areas, and it does not damage paper. However, they are imprecise. Gum erasers tend to crumble as they are used, so this type leaves a lot of eraser residue. This residue must then be brushed away with care, as the eraser particles can leave marks on the paper. Many artists use a broad brush to sweep away the loose eraser residue. Art gum erasers are commonly tan or brown, but sometimes are sold in blue.
Kneaded erasers Main article: Kneaded eraser

Kneaded erasers are common to most artists' standard toolkit. This type has numerous uses. They can be pulled into a point for erasing small areas and tight detail erasing, molded into a textured surface and used like a reverse stamp to give texture, or used in a "blotting" manner to lighten lines or shading without completely erasing them. They gradually lose their efficacy and resilience as they become infused with particles picked up from erasing and from their environment. They are weak at erasing large areas, as they deform under vigorous erasing.
Poster putty

Commonly sold in retail outlets with school supplies and home improvement products, this soft, malleable putty appears in many colors and under numerous brand names. Intended to adhere posters and prints to walls without damaging the underlying paint, poster putty works much the same as traditional kneaded erasers, but with a greater tack or lifting strength. Poster putty does not erase so much as lighten by lifting graphite, charcoal or pastel off a drawing. In this regard, it does not smudge or damage work in progress. Repeatedly touching the putty to a drawing pulls ever more medium free, gradually lightening the work in a controlled fashion. Poster putty can be shaped into fine points or knife edges, making it ideal for detailed or painstaking work. It can

be rolled across a surface to create visual textures. Poster putty loses its efficacy with use, becoming less tacky as the material grows polluted with debris and oils from the user's skin.
Electric erasers

An electric eraser tool with replacement eraser heads

The electric eraser has a knob in a short thin rod attached to a motor. The eraser knob turns at a uniform speed, achieving a smooth erasure with a minimum of paper trauma. Electric erasers work quickly and completely.
Soft vinyl erasers

Vinyl erasers

Soft vinyl has a plastic-like texture and erases cleaner than standard erasers. They are softer and non-abrasive, making them less likely to damage canvas or paper. They are prone to cause smearing when erasing large areas or dark marks, so these erasers are used to erase light marks and for precision erasing. Engineers favor this type of eraser for work on technical drawings due to their gentleness on paper.

Other

Cap erasers.

Felt erasers are used for marks on a chalkboard or whiteboard. Rather than being rubbery or gummy like pencil erasers, they have a wooden or plastic block with a dark felt pad on one side to erase. The material in these erasers does not abrade; once they are saturated with chalk or ink, they are cleaned by clapping them against a hard surface. Diener Industries manufactured erasers in the shape of toys. In 1955 Walt Disney contacted William Diener to ask him why souvenir pencils sold in Disneyland were not selling. Diener replied that they were overpriced but he convinced Disney they be sold with erasers in the shape of Disney characters.[5]

See also

Ink eraser Chalkboard eraser

References
1. Jump up ^ [Teiykai, Kbu daigakk mukashibanashi (Tokyo: Teiykai, 1926), 25-26] 2. Jump up ^ "Joseph Priestley (1733-1804)". Retrieved 2009-06-30. 3. Jump up ^ See the footnote on page xv at the end of the preface to the following: Priestley, Joseph (1770). A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective. London: J. John and J. Payne. 4. Jump up ^ Reckendorfer v. Faber 92 U.S. 347 (1875) 5. Jump up ^ http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-california-metroareas/253319-1.html Bibliography

Petroski, Henry (1989). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance..

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eraser

Eraser: How Products are Made, Volume 5 (1997) by Rose Secrest Pearlstein, E. J.; Cabelli, D., King, A., Indictor, N. (1982). "Effects of Eraser Treatment on Paper". Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 22 (1): 12. doi:10.2307/3179714. JSTOR 3179714. Goodyear Rubber History