Abstract
This paper records early Meridian observations concerning objects that remain available only when their location is stable, their return is understood and their ordinary use has been observed. It does not treat those conditions as interchangeable.
“A position may persist without being the position to which an object is ordinarily returned.”
Interpretation
The paper’s principal contribution was terminological. It retained stability for the persistence of a condition, return certainty for the reliability of restoring an element, and introduced ordinary position for the location repeated use had made expected.
Later practitioners disagreed about which observation should receive priority in a constrained environment. The continuity tradition emphasized persistence and return certainty. The use-pattern tradition emphasized approach, accessibility and observed use. PCP revisions did not select one tradition; they placed the observations in sequence.
Subsequent influence
MPS-P-88 is cited by the 1994 PCP clarification, the 2006 persistence revision and the 2016 handoff revision. Its terminology was narrowed rather than discarded. The current definition of ordinary position is shorter than the 1988 discussion and carries more conditions.
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Printable web edition. A matching PDF is available: download MPS-P-88.pdf.