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triangulate

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triangulate

marked with or composed of triangles
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

triangulation

The use of two known coordinates to determine the location of a third. Used by ship captains for centuries to navigate on the high seas, a form of triangulation known as "trilateration" is employed in GPS receivers to pinpoint their current location on earth. Trilateration is also used by cellular phone carriers to identify a caller's location for emergency 911 services.

Triangulation vs. Trilateration
Tri-ang-ulation deals with the measurement of the angle of the triangle formed between the observer and two known locations. Tri-lat-eration deals with the distances between observer and locations and is closer to what GPS navigation systems actually do. GPS uses three and four known locations from satellites to pinpoint the person or vehicle. See GPS and E911.
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References in periodicals archive
The user can phone or e-mail the information provided by Triangulate to emergency personnel.
Under the agreement Saab Sensis WAM will provide modern air traffic control coverage throughout the republic, incorporating multiple low-maintenance, non rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft locations.
It is designed to triangulate and analyse information from the three data streams--patient experience, staff experience and clinical indicators.
The system uses strategically-placed receivers to triangulate on aircraft transponder signals.
The cameras will pick up passive markers, such as sprinklers or barcodes on a wall, and an on-board computer will triangulate locations to identify the weapon's exact location.
With Maps, users can triangulate their position, find points of interest using a keyword search, get directions and see realtime traffic conditions--all with the option of toggling between views of Google map data, satellite imagery and the hybrid view of both.
Sensis MDS uses multiple low-maintenance, non-rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft location, based on transponder signals to supply air traffic controllers with precise aircraft position and identification information regardless of weather conditions.
They tend to 'triangulate' information--they get it from Google, from Technorati and from corporate media."
SAN DIEGO -- With Southern California's high ratio of skaters, photographers and filmers, drastic skatespot measures have been taken: Jamie Thomas learned advanced geometry in order to triangulate within any skate photo, using the position of the sun and visible degrees of shadow, to find where secret spots are.
One such technique is learning how to triangulate alternative media--rather than accepting any one alternative media's viewpoint as gospel, consult multiple alternative media known to lean toward different sides of the issue and compare their stories.
Instead, the Austin Group opted to use a new reverse engineering method involving laser scanning, in which a line of laser light is projected onto surfaces while cameras continuously triangulate the distance and profile of the laser line as it sweeps along the component.
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