How many statute miles equal a nautical mile

Lines of latitude, on the other hand, always run parallel. Cartographers and navigators even call them Parallels. Since their distance from one another never changes and is constant the world over, they are the perfect thing to base distance on.

So a nautical mile is derived from latitude. One minute of latitude is equal to one nautical mile. How long is a nautical mile? A nautical mile contains 6, feet or 1, meters. There was a period when different systems defined the nautical miles differently, but this has been standardized now so that everyone uses the same measurement.

Why is it called a knot? According to NOAA , in the old days on tall ships, the navigator would use a tool called a common log.

This consisted of a line of rope, with knots tied in it at a uniform distance. The end of the rope had a plate of wood that, when thrown overboard, would float on the surface of the water.

The navigator would let the line out and count the knots as they passed overboard. What is a Nautical Mile? Home Archives About Contact. By Sylvia Pamboukian Posted January 17, Media Player Error Update your browser or Flash plugin. Miles And Miles The familiar land mile is 5, feet , is called a statute mile, and it's based on paces. Nautical Miles To put it another way, at 6, feet a nautical mile is longer than a statute mile, which has only 5, feet.

To convert from nautical to statute miles: The factor 1. As a rule of thumb, roughly 7 nautical miles equals 8 statute miles. You can convert nautical to statute by multiplying nautical miles by 8 and dividing the product by seven.

To reverse the conversion, statute miles times 7, then divide by 8. Be sure you know what distance measurement is being used on the charts you are working with. There are four common measures of distance used on charts:. Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units! You can do the reverse unit conversion from nautical miles to statute miles , or enter any two units below:. We assume if you specify the statute mile that you mean the international statute mile.

If you want the U.