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EntityQ93318· pop 77· linked from 12,371 articles

nautical mile

Also known as M, NM, nmi

unit of distance (1852 m)

AI overview

A nautical mile is a unit of distance equal to 1,852 meters, used primarily for measuring distances at sea and in aviation. It matters because it's based on the Earth's circumference and makes navigation calculations more practical for maritime and air travel.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, nautical mile is referenced by 12,371 other articles, and connects out to metre, mile and International Hydrographic Organization.

Vinony files it under Customary units of measurement in the United States, Units of length and Units of measurement in navigation.

Its subject is documented across 76 Wikipedia language editions.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: unit of length

Show 7 more facts

conversion to standard unit: 2025.372
unit symbol: nm
measured physical quantity: length
conversion to SI unit: 1852
Wikidata SPARQL query equivalent: wd:Q93318 p:P2370/psn:P2370 [wikibase:quantityAmount ?source; wikibase:quantityUnit ?base]. ?item p:P2370/psn:P2370 [wikibase:quantityAmount ?target; wikibase:quantityUnit ?base]. BIND(?source / ?target as ?value)
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Commons category: Nautical mile

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Encyclopedic overview

A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( ⁠1/60⁠ of a degree) of latitude at the equator, so that Earth's polar circumference is very near to 21,600 nautical miles (that is 60 minutes × 360 degrees). Today the international nautical mile is defined as exactly 1,852 metres (about 6,076 ft; 1.151 mi). The derived unit of speed is the knot, one nautical mile per hour.

The nautical mile is not part of the International System of Units (SI), nor is it accepted for use with SI. However, it is still in common use globally in air, marine, and space contexts due to its correspondence with geographic coordinates.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “nautical mile” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.