The purpose of his joining the expedition seems to have been purely scientific, to assist the future development of navigational science.

Navigational sciences were highly developed, making use of a rudimentary sextant (known as a kamal).

Forbes, Eric G.: The Birth of Navigational Science.

There was no centre of navigational science or any supposed observatory, if compared to the modern definition of "observatory" or "navigational centre".

They were genuinely excited by Western navigational science, stirred by the discoveries of the explorers, and eager to adopt such Western military inventions as gunpowder and firearms.

Islamic geography and navigational sciences made use of a magnetic compass and a rudimentary instrument known as a kamal, used for celestial navigation and for measuring the altitudes and latitudes of the stars.

In October 2010, the National Maritime Museum awarded him its Caird Medal for 2009 in recognition of his many significant contributions to the history of navigational science and particularly for his catalogue of navigational instruments at Greenwich.

He did employ some cartographers to help him chart the coast of Mauritania in the wake of voyages he sent there, but for the rest there was no center of navigational science or any supposed observatory in the modern sense of the word, nor was there an organized navigational center.