Chart Basics
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Fundamental to mechanical navigation is being able to read the charts you are using, so lets start there. Charts are two dimensional representations of the world, using what's called a **projection** to put the oblate spheroid of the earth on to a flat piece of paper.

Projections
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Understanding the projection is essential to understanding a chart. The primary projection used in navigation is the Mercator projection.

.. raw:: html

    <p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cylindrical_Projection_basics2.svg#/media/File:Cylindrical_Projection_basics2.svg"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Cylindrical_Projection_basics2.svg/1200px-Cylindrical_Projection_basics2.svg.png" alt="Cylindrical Projection basics2.svg"></a><br>By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Peter_Mercator" title="User:Peter Mercator">Peter Mercator</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20168429">Link</a></p>