What is "geographical mile"

Geographic \Ge`o*graph"ic\, Geographical \Ge`o*graph"ic*al\, a. Of or pertaining to geography.

Geographical distribution. See under Distribution.

Geographic latitude (of a place), the angle included between a line perpendicular or normal to the level surface of water at rest at the place, and the plane of the equator; differing slightly from the geocentric latitude by reason of the difference between the earth's figure and a true sphere.

Geographical mile. See under Mile.

Geographical variation, any variation of a species which is dependent on climate or other geographical conditions.

Mile \Mile\ (m[imac]l), n. [AS. m[=i]l, fr. L. millia, milia; pl. of mille a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand paces. Cf. Mill the tenth of a cent, Million.] A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.

Note: The distance called a mile varies greatly in different countries. Its length in yards is, in Norway, 12,182; in Brunswick, 11,816; in Sweden, 11,660; in Hungary, 9,139; in Switzerland, 8,548; in Austria, 8,297; in Prussia, 8,238; in Poland, 8,100; in Italy, 2,025; in England and the United States, 1,760; in Spain, 1,552; in the Netherlands, 1,094.

Geographical mile or Nautical mile, one sixtieth of a degree of a great circle of the earth, or 6080.27 feet.

Mile run. Same as Train mile. See under Train.

Roman mile, a thousand paces, equal to 1,614 yards English measure.

Statute mile, a mile conforming to statute, that is, in England and the United States, a mile of 5,280 feet, as distinguished from any other mile.

n. a British unit of length equivalent to 1,853.18 meters (6,082 feet) [syn: nautical mile, naut mi, mile, mi, Admiralty mile]

The geographical mile is a unit of length determined by 1 minute of arc along the Earth's equator. For the 1924 International Spheroid this equalled 1855.4 metres. Any greater precision depends more on choice of standard than on more careful measurement: the length of the equator in the World Geodetic System WGS-84 is which makes the geographical mile 1855.3248 m, while the International Astronomical Union standard IAU-2000 takes the equator to be making the geographical mile 1855.3257 m, almost a millimetre longer. In any standard, the length of a degree of longitude at the equator is thus exactly 60 geographical miles.