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waypoint

A reference point used in a navigation route, course, or track, is usually called a waypoint (WP), and this is the terminology we recommend. (Some navigation programs use the word "mark" for all chart reference points; other programs use the word "waypoint" for all reference points saved on the chart, regardless of purpose.)

The program we use in our electronic chart navigation course, qtVlm, calls any reference point we choose to add on the chart a "point of interest (POI)", but it then gives us the opportunity to change the category of that point to a "mark" or "beacon," which behave the same in all functions, but have the option to be different colors and sizes. Thus you can have POI be black of a certain size, but marks be red and larger, and beacons, say, yellow, and a different size. However, once any of these categories are incorporated into a route, or assigned as an active target of the navigation, they become a "waypoint" of our navigation.

Random marks we can name however we like, but there is much value to maintaining a consistent naming policy for waypoints in a route. They should be sequentially numbered, and then named according to a nearby prominent landmark or ATON. To facilitate inserting waypoints, they can be numbered in steps of 10: 010 Jones Rk, 020 Single Bay Buoy 4, etc. The key point is they be sequential so the route and the route plan can be sorted. We would put a waypoint wherever there is a change in heading, ideally near some named chart feature, or at any intermediate place or feature we might want to use as a progress check point.

See marks in qtVlm.


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