Portelans

Galactic Portelans are observatories responsible for mapping and cataloguing stars. They act as navigational reference points, and in this way serve a similar function to lighthouses at sea. All officially recognised portelans must demonstrate a certain level of precision at measuring the positions of stars, however the methods they use to measure and report their findings are not standardized. Portelans will give designations to stars, that depend on their measured positions. A star's official designation is compiled from the designations it is given by its nearest portelans, as well as its position within the galactic grid.

Portelan Reporting Standards
What follows is a brief breakdown of the measurement and reporting standards of various portelans and portelan bodies. Understanding these is critical for astronavigation.

Olsen-Bryant group
The Olsen-Bryant group are an agency that runs a network of portelan stations throughout the glaxy. Each station is given an OBxx designation, where xx is a unique number assigned to that station (example: OB04 is the 4th Olsen-Bryant portelan station). Their stations measure the positions of stars using a series of Sextant Telescopes, from a single reference star. They report distances in 144ths of a revolution, clockwise, from the Spine of Worlds. The syntax for a designation by an Olsen-Bryant station, is as follows: The station designation (as stated above), for example OB04, is followed by two more numbers (in their native script, this is a base-12 numeral system, three digits may be seen when written in English). These numbers correspond to the angle, rounded down, in 144ths from Spine of Worlds. For example OB0497 refers to the star at 97/144ths as measured from the Olsen-Bryant No.4 station.