Odometry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The technique of measuring the distance an object travels while accounting for its changing position is crucial in various technologies
2. A method used to determine how far a vehicle or object has moved by tracking its changes in position over time
3. The process of calculating the distance traveled by an object through assessing its position shifts during movement

Etymology: "Odometry" is built from two parts that each carry a clear, separate meaning. The first, "odo-", comes from Greek "hodos", meaning "way" or "road," as in "hodometer," the instrument that measures distance travelled. The second, "-metry," comes from Greek "metron", meaning "measure," the same root behind "geometry" and "thermometer." Put together, the literal sense is "measurement of the way," which is exactly what the word describes: working out how far something has moved by tracking its successive positions. The term is a modern technical formation, pieced together from classical roots in the same way that scientific vocabulary has been coined in later centuries, rather than a word inherited unchanged from antiquity.