nautical mile
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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.
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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.