I'm talking about the old-school theodolites that surveyors would have used in the 18th and 19th centuries. Could people in those days have navigated using such instruments? If so, wouldn't they only have worked if the user knew the coordinates of the landmark that he or she was taking the sighting on?
Much obliged.
A theodolite is basically a more accurate and sophisticated sextant. People have used them for navigation for centuries.
You don't need to know absolute coordinates. Relative angles are enough.
Can one even measure angles in the vertical plane with a theodolite? I thought only sextants could do that.
shareWhen Lewis & Clark navigated west, they surveyed as they went, and their measurement of their distance traveled was only off about 30 miles as I recall. Not bad, considering. Not sure of their instrument.
shareYes, sure. A theodolite can do anything a sextant can, and more accurately, but you need a stable platform, so they aren't very useful for navigation.
Yes, but you need an accurate clock to find out the longitude.
share