Difference between True North and Magnetic North
While creating map, true north and magnetic north are two terms which are used when to indicate the proximity or distance of a certain location. . For voyagers and travelers, these are two very important aspects to find out in which direction they are leading to. The maps are updated in every five years to incorporate the changes in the situation of magnetic north. Both true north and magnetic north have lot of differences between them, and to create accurate maps, the terms need a better understanding.
True North
True north is a direction towards the North Pole on the Earth’s plane represented by latitude and the longitudinal lines. As landscapes or geographical locations do not move, true north is always constant and never changes. Only because of true north we can easily map out the locations physically and trace their originations on the map.
Magnetic North
Very unlike true north, magnetic north is flexible and keeps changing it distance. It either moves close or farther from true north. It is not a land base but a magnetic pole of the Earth. Records have stated that magnetic north once came so close to true north that only 500-600 miles of distance was left between these two.
As stated, True north is constant and refers to a land on the Earth’s plane whereas magnetic north is flexible. It rotates or keeps moving within some range to true north. True north can be determined some times by the position of stars on the sky but constellations cannot determine the position of magnetic north. North Star helps in determining the location or true north whilst magnetic north can be located by pointing the needle of a compass