10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Azimuth
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Fortheband,seeAzimuth(band).

Anazimuth( i /zm/)(fromArabicalsumt,meaning
"thedirections")isanangularmeasurementinaspherical
coordinatesystem.Thevectorfromanobserver(origin)toa
pointofinterestisprojectedperpendicularlyontoareference
planetheanglebetweentheprojectedvectorandareference
vectoronthereferenceplaneiscalledtheazimuth.
Anexampleisthepositionofastarinthesky.Thestaristhe
pointofinterest,thereferenceplaneisthehorizonorthe
surfaceofthesea,andthereferencevector
pointsnorth.Theazimuthistheangle
betweenthenorthvectorandthe
perpendicularprojectionofthestardown
ontothehorizon.[1]

SignintoyourWajamaccountand
discoverwhatyourfriendshaveshared

Facebook

Twitter

Azimuthisusuallymeasuredindegrees().
Theconceptisusedinnavigation,
astronomy,engineering,mapping,mining
andartillery.

Contents
1Navigation
1.1Truenorthbasedazimuths
2Cartographicalazimuth
2.1CalculatingCoordinates
3Calculatingazimuth
4Mapping
5Astronomy
6Othersystems
6.1Rightascension
6.2Horizontalcoordinate
6.3Polarcoordinate
7Otherusesoftheword
8Etymologyoftheword
9Seealso
10Notes
11References
12Externallinks

Theazimuthistheangleformedbetweenareference
direction(North)andalinefromtheobservertoapointof
interestprojectedonthesameplaneasthereference
directionorthogonaltothezenith

Navigation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

1/7

10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inlandnavigation,azimuthisusuallydenotedalpha, ,anddefinedasahorizontalanglemeasured
clockwisefromanorthbaselineormeridian.[2][3]Azimuthhas
alsobeenmoregenerallydefinedasahorizontalanglemeasured
clockwisefromanyfixedreferenceplaneoreasilyestablished
basedirectionline.[4][5][6]

AzimuthMarker,MountAllen
(SandstonePeak),Southern
California,USA.

Todaythereferenceplaneforanazimuthistypicallytruenorth,
measuredasa0azimuth,thoughotherangularunits(grad,mil)
canbeused.Movingclockwiseona360degreecircle,easthas
azimuth90,south180,andwest270.Thereareexceptions:
somenavigationsystemsusesouthasthereferencevector.Any
directioncanbethereferencevector,aslongasitisclearly
defined.

Quitecommonly,azimuthsorcompassbearingsarestatedina
systeminwhicheithernorthorsouthcanbethezero,andthe
anglemaybemeasuredclockwiseoranticlockwisefromthezero.Forexample,abearingmightbe
describedas"(from)south,(turn)thirtydegrees(towardthe)east"(thewordsinbracketsareusually
omitted),abbreviated"S30E",whichisthebearing30degreesintheeastwarddirectionfromsouth,i.e.
thebearing150degreesclockwisefromnorth.Thereferencedirection,statedfirst,isalwaysnorthor
south,andtheturningdirection,statedlast,iseastorwest.Thedirectionsarechosensothattheangle,
statedbetweenthem,ispositive,betweenzeroand90degrees.Ifthebearinghappenstobeexactlyin
thedirectionofoneofthecardinalpoints,adifferentnotation,e.g."dueeast",isusedinstead.

Truenorthbasedazimuths
North
NorthNortheast
Northeast
EastNortheast
East
EastSoutheast
Southeast
SouthSoutheast

FromNorth
0or360 South
22.5
45
67.5
90
112.5
135
157.5

180

SouthSouthwest 202.5
Southwest

225

WestSouthwest 247.5
West

270

WestNorthwest 292.5
Northwest

315

NorthNorthwest 337.5

Cartographicalazimuth
Thecartographicalazimuth(indecimaldegrees)canbecalculatedwhenthecoordinatesof2pointsare
knowninaflatplane(cartographicalcoordinates):

Remarkthatthereferenceaxesareswappedrelativetothe(counterclockwise)mathematicalpolar
coordinatesystemandthattheazimuthisclockwiserelativetothenorth.ThisisthereasonwhytheX
andYaxisintheaboveformulaareswapped.Iftheazimuthbecomesnegative,onecanalwaysadd
360.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

2/7

10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Theformulainradianswouldbeabiteasier:

Caveat
Someplatformsreversetheorderoftheatan2parameters.

CalculatingCoordinates
Whenthecoordinates(X1,Y1)ofonepoint,thedistanceL,andtheazimuthtoanotherpoint(X2,Y2)
areknown,onecancalculateitscoordinates:

Thisistypicallyusedintriangulation.

Calculatingazimuth
Wearestandingatlatitude ,longitudezerowewanttofind
theazimuthfromourviewpointtoPoint2atlatitude ,
longitudeL(positiveeastward).Wecangetafairapproximation
byassumingtheEarthisasphere,inwhichcasetheazimuth is
givenby

AbetterapproximationassumestheEarthisaslightlysquashed
sphere(anoblatespheroid)azimuththenhasatleasttwovery
slightlydifferentmeanings.Normalsectionazimuthistheangle
measuredatourviewpointbyatheodolitewhoseaxisis
perpendiculartothesurfaceofthespheroidgeodeticazimuthis
theanglebetweennorthandthegeodesicthatis,theshortest
pathonthesurfaceofthespheroidfromourviewpointtoPoint2.
ThedifferenceisusuallyimmeasurablysmallifPoint2isnot
morethan100kmawaythedifferencewillnotexceed0.03arc
second.

TheazimuthbetweenCapeTownand
Melbournealongthegeodesic(the
shortestroute)changesfrom141to
42.Azimuthalorthographic
projectionandMillercylindrical
projection.

Variouswebsiteswillcalculategeodeticazimuthe.g.,
GeoScienceAustraliasite
(http://www.ga.gov.au/geodesy/datums/vincenty_inverse.jsp).
Formulasforcalculatinggeodeticazimutharelinkedinthedistancearticle.

NormalsectionazimuthissimplertocalculateBomfordsaysCunningham'sformulaisexactforany
distance.If istheflatteningforthechosenspheroid(e.g.,1/298.257223563forWGS84)then

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

3/7

10/27/2015

If

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

=0then

Tocalculatetheazimuthofthesunorastargivenitsdeclinationandhourangleatourlocation,we
modifytheformulaforasphericalearth.Replace withdeclinationandlongitudedifferencewithhour
angle,andchangethesign(sincehourangleispositivewestwardinsteadofeast).

Mapping
Thereareawidevarietyofazimuthalmapprojections.Theyallhavethepropertythatdirections(the
azimuths)fromacentralpointarepreserved.Somenavigationsystemsusesouthasthereferenceplane.
However,anydirectioncanserveastheplaneofreference,aslongasitisclearlydefinedforeveryone
usingthatsystem.

Comparisonofsomeazimuthalprojectionscentredon90Natthesamescale,orderedbyprojection
altitudeinEarthradii.(clickfordetail)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Comparison_azimuthal_projections.svg)

Astronomy
Usedincelestialnavigation,anazimuthisthedirectionofacelestialbodyfromtheobserver.[7]In
astronomy,anazimuthissometimesreferredtoasabearing.Inmodernastronomyazimuthisnearly
alwaysmeasuredfromthenorth.(Thearticleoncoordinatesystems,forexample,usesaconvention
measuringfromthesouth.)Informertimes,itwascommontorefertoazimuthfromthesouth,asitwas
thenzeroatthesametimethatthehourangleofastarwaszero.Thisassumes,however,thatthestar
(upper)culminatesinthesouth,whichisonlytrueifthestar'sdeclinationislessthan(i.e.furthersouth
than)theobserver'slatitude.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

4/7

10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Othersystems
Rightascension
Ifinsteadofmeasuringfromandalongthehorizontheanglesare
measuredfromandalongthecelestialequator,theanglesare
calledrightascensionifreferencedtotheVernalEquinox,or
hourangleifreferencedtothecelestialmeridian.

Horizontalcoordinate

AstandardBruntonGeocompass,
usedcommonlybygeologistsand
surveyorstomeasureazimuth

Inthehorizontalcoordinatesystem,usedincelestialnavigation
andsatellitedishinstallation,azimuthisoneofthetwo
coordinates.Theotherisaltitude,sometimescalledelevationabovethehorizon.Seealso:Satfinder.

Polarcoordinate
Inmathematicstheazimuthangleofapointincylindricalcoordinatesorsphericalcoordinatesisthe
anticlockwiseanglebetweenthepositivexaxisandtheprojectionofthevectorontothexyplane.The
angleisthesameasanangleinpolarcoordinatesofthecomponentofthevectorinthexyplaneandis
normallymeasuredinradiansratherthandegrees.Aswellasmeasuringtheangledifferently,in
mathematicalapplicationstheta, ,isveryoftenusedtorepresenttheazimuthratherthanthesymbolphi
.

Otherusesoftheword
Formagnetictapedrives,azimuthreferstotheanglebetweenthetapehead(s)andtape.
Insoundlocalizationexperimentsandliterature,theazimuthreferstotheanglethesoundsourcemakes
comparedtotheimaginarystraightlinethatisdrawnfromwithintheheadthroughtheareabetweenthe
eyes.
Anazimuththrusterinshipbuildingisapropellerthatcanberotatedhorizontally.

Etymologyoftheword
ThewordazimuthisinallEuropeanlanguagestoday.ItoriginatesfrommedievalArabicalsumt,
pronouncedassumtinArabic,meaning"thedirections"(pluralofArabicalsamt="thedirection").
TheArabicwordenteredlatemedievalLatininanastronomycontextandinparticularintheuseofthe
ArabicversionoftheAstrolabeastronomyinstrument.Theword'sfirstrecordinEnglishisinthe1390s
inTreatiseontheAstrolabebyGeoffreyChaucer.ThefirstknownrecordinanyWesternlanguageisin
Spanishinthe1270sinanastronomybookthatwaslargelyderivedfromArabicsources,theLibrosdel
saberdeastronomacommissionedbyKingAlfonsoXofCastile.[8]

Seealso
Altitude(astronomy)
Azimuthalquantumnumber
Azimuthalequidistantprojection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

5/7

10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Bearing(navigation)
Course(navigation)
Inclination
Longitude
Latitude
Magneticdeclination
Panning(camera)
Sextant
Solarazimuthangle
SoundLocalization
Zenith

Notes
1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/azimuth
2. U.S.Army,MapReadingandLandNavigation,FM2126,Headquarters,Dept.oftheArmy,Washington,
D.C.(7May1993),ch.6,p.2
3. U.S.Army,MapReadingandLandNavigation,FM2126,Headquarters,Dept.oftheArmy,Washington,
D.C.(28March1956),ch.3,p.63
4. U.S.Army,ch.6p.2
5. U.S.Army,AdvancedMapandAerialPhotographReading,Headquarters,WarDepartment,Washington,
D.C.(17September1941),pp.2425
6. U.S.Army,AdvancedMapandAerialPhotographReading,Headquarters,WarDepartment,Washington,
D.C.(23December1944),p.15
7. Rutstrum,Carl,TheWildernessRouteFinder,UniversityofMinnesotaPress(2000),ISBN0816636613,
p.194
8. "Azimuth"atNewEnglishDictionaryonHistoricalPrinciples
(http://archive.org/stream/oed01arch#page/602/mode/1up)"azimut"atCentreNationaldeRessources
TextuellesetLexicales(http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/azimut)"alSamt"atBrill'sEncyclopediaofIslam
(http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaediaofislam2/alsamtSIM_6591)"azimuth"at
EnglishWordsOfArabicAncestry.wordpress.com
(http://englishwordsofarabicancestry.wordpress.com/#cite_note39).InArabicthewrittenalsumtisalways
pronouncedassumt(seepronunciationof"al"inArabic).

References
Rutstrum,Carl,TheWildernessRouteFinder,UniversityofMinnesotaPress(2000),ISBN0
816636613
U.S.Army,AdvancedMapandAerialPhotographReading,FM2126,Headquarters,War
Department,Washington,D.C.(17September1941)
U.S.Army,AdvancedMapandAerialPhotographReading,FM2126,Headquarters,War
Department,Washington,D.C.(23December1944)
U.S.Army,MapReadingandLandNavigation,FM2126,Headquarters,Dept.oftheArmy,
Washington,D.C.(7May1993)

Externallinks
"Azimuth".EncyclopdiaBritannica(11thed.).1911.
"Azimuth".Collier'sNewEncyclopedia.1921.

Lookupazimuthin
Wiktionary,thefree
dictionary.

Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Azimuth&oldid=685761951"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

6/7

10/27/2015

AzimuthWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Categories: Angle Astronomy Navigation Celestialcoordinatesystem

Thispagewaslastmodifiedon14October2015,at20:50.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionalterms
mayapply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.Wikipediaisa
registeredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth

7/7