Region A, Region B, reason?

[7htas]

Can anyone shed any light on the aforementioned subject?

Was region B introduced, purely because the U.S.A wanted it?

Is it the same principal behind GMT being referred to as UTC?

 

[TimBennet]

Can anyone shed any light on the aforementioned subject?

Was region B introduced, purely because the U.S.A wanted it?

Is it the same principal behind GMT being referred to as UTC?

Yes the world's lighthouse authorities couldn't agree on one system so they compromised by having "A single standard that included two systems". Of course that should not be confused with a situation where there are actually two separate systems. No Sir-ree.

But you cannot blame the Americans, why couldn't Europe have adopted the system used in the US and elsewhere in the world that is in their sphere of influence? One side had to change, why not us? There's nothing particularly brilliant about our mixture of lateral and cardinal marks - the use of laterals to mark Ferry Rocks in Kerrera Sound is as stupid as stupid can be. ( http://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbo...1CFCA874B81/chart-of-oban-and-approaches-2013 ).

 

[sarabande]

I think that the USA was reluctant to play and to be seen to become vassal to a foreign system.


GMT/UTC is mainly the French, who have always regarded the Greenwich meridian as a post-Napoleonic imposition of the prime meridian to support British (i.e. non-French) commercial interests.


A huge amount of global work on surveying and land measurement was carried on during the French Revolution and under Napoleon by international teams who were given passe par tout to travel across Europe with their theodolites and sextants.

 

[TimBennet]

GMT/UTC is mainly the French, who have always regarded the Greenwich meridian as a post-Napoleonic imposition of the prime meridian to support British (i.e. non-French) commercial interests.

More UKIP propaganda: GMT and UTC are not scientifically the same thing. So therefore they have different names. GMT (together with all longitudinal mean times) is based on solar observations, where as UTC is an international agreement based on atomic clocks. Joe Public might think they are the same thing, but for those who care (GPS designers for instance), the difference matters. Calling both the same name would be rather confusing.

 

[7htas]

Helpful replies. Not likely to come up at my orals, but certainly good to know. Thanks