Navigational aid
marker that assists a traveler in navigation
A navigational aid (NAVAID), also known as aid to navigation (ATON), is any sort of signal, markers or guidance equipment which aids the traveller in navigation, usually nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids include lighthouses, buoys, fog signals, and day beacons.
Definition
According to the glossary of terms in the United States Coast Guard Light list, an aid to navigation (ATON) is any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist navigators in determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.
Lateral marks
Lateral marks indicate the edge of the channel. The standards are defined by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA). Approaching harbour port a vessel leaves port hand marks to port (left) and starboard hand marks to starboard (right). Port hand marks are cylindrical, starboard marks are conical. If the mark is a pillar or spar shape, then a topmark is fitted which is either cylindrical or conical as appropriate.
IALA divides the world into two regions: A and B. Region B is the Americas (excluding Greenland) along with Japan, Korea and the Philippines. Region A is the rest of the world.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Navigational aid” as marker that assists a traveler in navigation. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as marker that assists a traveler in navigation. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3565782. The Library of Congress control number is sh85002544. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Navigational aid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.