a technique for establishing the distance between any two points, or the relative position of two or more points, by using such points as vertices of a triangle or series of triangles, such that each triangle has a side of known or measurable length (base or base line) that permits the size of the angles of the triangle and the length of its other two sides to be established by observations taken either upon or from the two ends of the base line.
2.
the triangles thus formed and measured.
Origin: 1810–20; < ML triangulātiōn- (s. of triangulātiō) the making of triangles. See triangulate, -ion
A surveying technique in which a region is divided into a series of triangular elements based on a line of known length so that accurate measurements of distances and directions may be made by the application of trigonometry.
The network of triangles so laid out.
The location of an unknown point, as in navigation, by the formation of a triangle having the unknown point and two known points as the vertices.
triangulation (trī-āng'gyə-lā'shən) Pronunciation Key
A method of determining the relative positions of points in space by measuring the distances, and sometimes angles, between those points and other reference points whose positions are known. Triangulation often involves the use of trigonometry. It is commonly used in the navigation of aircraft and boats, and is the method used in the Global Positioning System , in which the reference points are satellites.
[trahy-ang-gyuh-ley-shuh
n] 