mile—A unit of distance derived from the Latin “mille,” meaning a thousand, and applied to the double pace of five feet. The mile of Romans was 5,000 feet, a value that suffered many changes as the came into use among the Western nations. See also mile, nautical; statute.

mile, nautical—A unit of distance used principally in navigation, nautical mile is the length of one minute of any great circle of the meridian being the great circle most commonly used. Because the various lengths of the nautical mile in use throughout the due to differences in definition and the assumed size and shape Earth, the International Hydrographic Bureau in 1929 decided that the international nautical mile will have a standard length of 1,852 me This standard has been adopted by nearly all maritime nations. The Departments of Defense and Commerce adopted this value on Jul 1954. With the yard-meter relationship then in use, the international nautical mile was equivalent to 6076.10333 feet. Using the yard-meter conversion factor effective July I, 1959, the international nautical mi equivalent to 6076.11549 feet. See also airline distance; mile; mile, statute.

mile, statute—The English statute mile, as used in Great Britain and United Suites, is equal to 320 rods or poles, 1,760 yards, or 5,280 (1,609.3 meters). See also airline distance; mile; mile, nautical.
–

Source: NSPS “Definitions of Surveying and Related Terms“, used with permission.

Part of LearnCST’s exam text bundle.