Bearing (navigation)
![A standard Brunton Geo compass, used commonly by geologists and surveyors to obtain a bearing in the field.](/Images/godic/202501/05/Brunton2357.JPG")
![The bearing between Cape Town and Melbourne along the geodesic (the shortest route) changes from 141° to 42°. Azimuthal orthographic projection and Miller cylindrical projection.](/Images/godic/202501/05/Bearing_and_azimuth_along_the_geodesic2358.png")
![A and B are near the North Pole and facing each other. Though A is facing east, B is not facing west. If B were to face west, her direction (dashed arrow) would be tangential to her latitude circle (dashed circle). Only on the equator is it true that if A faces east and B faces west that they can face each other.](/Images/godic/202501/05/Polar_bear_bearing.svg2358.png")
"Bearing" is a term used in navigation to refer, depending on the context, to either (A) the direction of motion, or, (B) the direction of a distant object relative to the current course (or the "change" in course that would be needed to get to that distant object), or (C), the degrees away from North of a distant point relative to the current point.