Figure 7-8.—Latitude and departure.

The latitude of a traverse line means the length of the line as projected on
the north-to-south meridian running through the point of origin. The departure of a traverse line means the length of
the line as projected on the east-to-west parallel running through the point of origin. To understand this, you
should examine figure 7-8. The point of origin is at O. The line NS is the meridian through the point of origin; the
line EW is the parallel through the point of origin. The latitude of AB is the length of AB as projected on NS; the
departure of AB is the length of AB as projected on EW. You can see that for a traverse line running due north and
south, the latitude would equal the length of the line and the departure would be zero. For a line running due east
and west the departure would equal the length of the line and the latitude would be zero. Now, for a line running
other than north to south or east to west, you can determine the latitude or departure by simple triangle solution.
Figure 7-9 shows a traverse line 520.16 feet long bearing S61°25'E. To determine the latitude, you solve the triangle
ABC for the length of the side AC. From the bearing, you know that the size of angle CAB (the angle of
bearing) is 61°25'. The triangle is a right triangle; therefore AC = 520.16 cos 61°25' = 248.86 ft. The latitude
of a traverse line, then, equals the product of the length of the line times the cosine of the angle of bearing. To
determine the departure, you solve the triangle for the length of the side CB shown in figure 7-10. CB = 520.16 sin
61°25' = 456.76 ft. Figure 7-9.—Latitude equals length of traverse line times twine of angle of bearing. Figure
7-10.—Departure equals length of traverse line times sine of angle of bearing. The departure of a traverse
line, then, equals the length of the line times the sine of the angle of bearing. The latitude of a traverse line is
designated north or south and the departure is designated east or west following the compass direction of the bearing
of the line. A line bearing northeast, for example, has a north latitude and east departure. In computations, north
latitudes are designated plus and south latitudes minus; east departures are designated plus and west departures
minus.