Convert US Survey Foot to Nautical Mile
Convert us survey feet to nautical miles instantly. 1 us survey foot = 0.0001645792 nautical mile — use the live calculator, the exact formula, a conversion table and worked examples. Also check the Nautical Mile to US Survey Foot converter for the reverse conversion.
Units explained
US Survey Foot
The US Survey Foot is a legacy unit of length defined as exactly 1200/3937 meters (approximately 0.3048006 m). It differs from the modern international foot by about 2 parts per million.
Established in the United States by the Mendenhall Order of 1893, which defined the foot in terms of the meter as 1200/3937 m. The US continued using this value for surveying even after the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement standardized the international foot at exactly 0.3048 m.
Used in US land surveying, geodetic measurements, state plane coordinate systems, and legal land descriptions. The US Survey Foot was officially deprecated by NIST and NOAA effective December 31, 2022, with the international foot becoming the sole US standard. Legacy data and recorded land surveys still reference it.
Mendenhall Order of 1893 defined the foot as 1200/3937 m; persisted in US surveying after 1959; officially deprecated by NIST/NOAA as of December 31, 2022.
Nautical Mile
A nautical mile is a unit of length equal to exactly 1,852 meters, defined as one minute of arc along any meridian of the Earth. It is the standard unit for sea and air navigation worldwide.
Originally defined as one minute of arc along a great circle of the Earth, making it convenient for celestial navigation. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standardized the value at exactly 1,852 meters in 1929.
Nautical miles are used in maritime navigation, aviation, and international law (territorial waters, exclusive economic zones). Speed in nautical miles per hour is called a knot. The nautical mile is distinct from the statute (land) mile.
Defined for celestial navigation since antiquity; standardized to 1,852 m exactly by the IHO in 1929; adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for aviation use.
US Survey Foot to Nautical Mile conversion formula
Note: this conversion uses a generally accepted modern value. Historical and regional definitions of this unit varied across times and places.
The relationship between us survey feet and nautical miles:
To convert us survey feet to nautical miles, multiply the value in us survey feet by 0.0001645792. To reverse, multiply nautical miles by 6076.1033333333.
How to use this converter
Type a value into the calculator. The result in nautical miles updates as you type. Tap a quick value, copy the result with one click, or use the swap arrow to jump straight to the Nautical Mile to US Survey Foot converter for the reverse direction.
Step-by-step: convert us survey feet to nautical miles
- Write down the value in us survey feet (sft).
- Multiply that value by the factor 0.0001645792.
- The product is the equivalent value in nautical miles (nmi).
- To reverse, multiply the nautical mile value by 6076.1033333333.
Worked examples
Example 1 — Convert 1 sft to nmi:
1 × 0.0001645792 = 0.0001645792 nmi
Example 2 — Convert 100 sft to nmi:
100 × 0.0001645792 = 0.0164579163 nmi
Real-world example — Imperial yard-to-mile scale
1,760 us survey feet equals exactly one nautical mile. American athletes and surveyors use this conversion to translate distances quoted in the smaller imperial unit into recognizable fractions of the larger geographic one.
1760 sft × 0.0001645792 = 0.2896593266 nmi
Real-world example — Metric distance scale-up
One thousand us survey feet equals one nautical mile — the running distance for a 1K race or the standard metric kilometre-scale step. The simple thousand-fold conversion is the most-used metric distance translation.
1000 sft × 0.0001645792 = 0.1645791629 nmi
Real-world example — Imperial mile arithmetic
5,280 us survey feet equals exactly one nautical mile. American hikers tracking elevation gain in the smaller unit but trail length in the larger one use this constant every time they read a topographic map.
5280 sft × 0.0001645792 = 0.8689779799 nmi
US Survey Foot to Nautical Mile conversion table
Standard reference values for converting us survey feet to nautical miles:
| US Survey Foot [sft] | Nautical Mile [nmi] |
|---|---|
| 0.01 | 1.645792e-6 |
| 0.1 | 1.645792e-5 |
| 1 | 0.0001645792 |
| 2 | 0.0003291583 |
| 3 | 0.0004937375 |
| 4 | 0.0006583167 |
| 5 | 0.0008228958 |
| 10 | 0.0016457916 |
| 20 | 0.0032915833 |
| 30 | 0.0049373749 |
| 40 | 0.0065831665 |
| 50 | 0.0082289581 |
| 100 | 0.0164579163 |
| 500 | 0.0822895814 |
| 1000 | 0.1645791629 |
Frequently asked questions
How many nautical miles is 1 us survey foot?
How do I convert us survey feet to nautical miles?
How do I convert nautical miles back to us survey feet?
How many nautical miles is 100 us survey feet?
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Metric / SI (7 units)
Imperial / US Customary (26 units)
Nautical (1 units)
Sources & references
Conversion factor (1 sft = 0.0001645792 nmi) verified against the following authoritative sources:
- BIPM — The International System of Units (SI Brochure 9th ed.)
Official BIPM publication defining the seven SI base units (including the meter) and the rules for their use. The global authority on units of measurement.
- NIST — Guide to the SI
US National Institute of Standards and Technology reference covering the SI base and derived units with definitions and usage rules for US technical practice.
- NIST Special Publication 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units
Detailed NIST guide covering exact conversion factors between SI and US customary units along with formatting and rounding conventions.
- NIST — Refinement of values for the yard and pound (Federal Register 1959)
The treaty (signed by US
- International Hydrographic Organization — Resolution on the Nautical Mile
International authority that standardised the nautical mile at exactly 1852 m in 1929 — the value adopted worldwide for sea and air navigation.