Your initial thought was correct.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"keith_nuttle" wrote in message
t...
I am just a chemist that likes to sail and have spent all of my time on
inland lakes.

I thought it was latitude but could be longitude, but I do remember that
the diameter of the earth at the equator in in knots is equal to 360 X 60.


Capt. JG wrote:
"krj" wrote in message
. ..

Peter Bennett wrote:

On Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:12:52 GMT, keith_nuttle
wrote:



Since the nautical mile is defined as one minute of latitude, I doubt
it will ever disappear in earth based navigation.


The Nautical Mile was originally based on a minute of latitude, but
the length of a minute of latitude varies with latitude, so an
International Nautical Mile is now defined as 1852 metres exactly, or
6076.11549 US feet, approximately, according to Bowditch.




I believe that the nautical mile is based on the minute of LONGITUDE not
latitude. Longitude doesn't vary with changes in latitude (or attitude).
That's why when you are using paper charts (remember those) you measure
the distance with your dividers on the longitude scale on the east or
west side of the chart.
krj


Where do you guys get this?? You have it 180 degrees backward. Or, is
this a troll? :-)

http://powerboat.about.com/od/forms_..._Longitude.htm