About SI Navigator

What is SI?

SI stands for Système International.

The International System of Units (le Système International d'unités), the official name for the modern metric system, is now the standard for units of measure in almost every country in the world. There are only three major holdouts with respect to complete adoption of metric standards — the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Both the United Kingdom and Canada have largely metricated, but some problems and inconsistencies remain (see Metrication Elsewhere). For a number of reasons, the United States is very much out of step with the rest of the world with respect to metrication. One of the consequences is the existence of a great deal of confusion and misinformation about the metric system, including the rather strange view that it is more difficult to understand than the "traditional" units of measure.

There is a need to dispel all the myths and to present all the facts. Most of the facts and the arguments are already available on the Internet, which has a wealth of information about SI and the process (and progress) of metrication. However, even with search engines, finding it all is a somewhat tedious process. Finding the best sites is a matter of trial and error. 

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The Best Way to Visit Metric Web Sites

The purpose of SI Navigator is to make the navigation process easy and reasonably intuitive. Although original material will be included, the main goal is to simplify the exploration of existing sites.

Within the United States, the two most important sites are the ones maintained by the U.S. Metric Association (USMA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). If you view those sites via SI Navigator, you'll find that they, in turn, provide links to other interesting sites, most of which you can view without leaving this site.

The menu on the left shows the structure of this site. It will be modified and updated, as time permits. Outdated links will also be replaced (again, as time permits).

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Bookmarking the Sites You Visit

We hope you'll use SI Navigator to visit and revisit other metric web sites and to check for new links, features and news. We'll try to make this an attractive option by removing obsolete links (those that lead nowhere or to out of date information) in a timely manner, and by researching and adding new links.

However, for that special link to which you'd like to go directly , bookmarking it is easy. When you click on the link, simply use the right mouse button and, from the menu that will appear, choose the option of opening the link in a new window or a new tab. Then, when it opens, simply add it via the browser's menu to your Bookmarks or, if you're still using Internet Explorer, your Favorites.