A navigational aid (NAVAID), also known as aid to navigation (ATON), is any sort of signal, markers or guidance equipment which aids the traveler in navigation, usually nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids include lighthouses, buoys, fog signals, and day beacons.
The entrance to the inner harbour of the Port of Fremantle, Australia, with a yellow special mark at left, a region A red port lateral mark at right, and a region A green starboard lighthouse in the background
Region B green port lateral marks (with Galápagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki)) in the Galápagos Islands
Triangle shaped lead marks with lights.
large buoy in storage, Homer, Alaska
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
The Lighthouse of Praia da Barra, on the west coast of Portugal
The Tower of Hercules lighthouse in northwest Spain
Original Winstanley lighthouse, Eddystone Rock, by Jaaziell Johnston, 1813.
John Smeaton's rebuilt version of the Eddystone Lighthouse, 1759. This represented a great step forward in lighthouse design.