A precise electronic measuring system for indicating distance from an airborne or shipborne station to each of two fixed ground stations simultaneously by recording (by means of cathode-ray screens) the time required for round-trip travel of radar signals or high-frequency radio waves and thereby determining the position of the mobile station. Its range is effectively limited to line-of-sight distances (or about 40 nmi or 74 km). Shoran is used in control of aerial photography, airborne geophysical prospecting, offshore hydrographic surveys, and geodetic surveying for measuring long distances. Compare: loran navigation.