An opisometer, also called a curvimeter, meilograph, or map measurer is an electronic instrument for measuring the lengths of arbitrary curved lines. A simple opisometer consists of a toothed wheel of the known circumference on a handle. The wheel is placed in contact with the curved line to be measured and run along its length.
By counting the number of teeth passing a mark on the handle while this is done, the length of the line can be ascertained: line length = wheel circumference × (teeth counted/teeth on the wheel)
The instrument is most commonly used to measure the lengths of roads, rivers, and other line features on maps. Opisometers designed for this purpose provide scales reading the measured distance in kilometers and miles.
