Compass

[woodyz]

www.ussartf.org/compass_basics.htm

www.your-camping-guidebook.com/how-to-read-a-compass.html

www.scubadiving.com/training/basic-skills/compass-navigation-made-easy

[thywar]

Another area for me that needs more work

[woodyz]

We were doing some with the Grandkids today, using a compass and finding the N Star

[angelhelp]

Call me stupid (ignorant, untrained), but those instructions make no sense to me, starting with the first one. What, pray tell, is the required route? I sure don't see anything on the map to indicate a required or desired route. I am thoroughly lost... pun noted but not intended. Adjusting for magnetic north not being consistent is one thing, but I couldn't even get started with those instructions. I have a high level of frustration in this subject area; I would need to attempt this in the presence of someone who knows what they're doing and isn't afraid of "dumb" questions.

[thywar]

Hmmm. Given that you call your husband Airborne l assume he's prior service military and had some experience with land navigation while serving. Also assuming you've been married for awhile with grown children my reasoning indicates you have what you're asking for in your home. Someone with compass skills and not afraid of dumb questions.
But I could be mistaken.

[angelhelp]

Airborne's one of those lucky folks "born with a compass in his head". I'm the one who gets turned around in the doctor's office and am always surprised as he takes me by the elbow and literally steers me out, turning corners I don't expect, much like people who cannot dance together at all. I've asked, but he's long since forgotten all the land-nav skills, never using them since leaving the service, and never once needing them in civilian life. I've tried following explanations in books, e.g. "Back to Basics", but I can't make sense of it.

You have a map, a compass, and you're outdoors. It's a given (just for the sake of argument) that your physical location corresponds to a spot on the map. It seems to me that unless you know where that spot is, you cannot even begin. Assuming you know that spot, I still don't make sense of the first step in woodyz's post.

[woodyz]

try these It will help if you have a compass with you while you read

not just the little button, those are for going directly toward a specific direction

if you are trying to get somewhere specific on a map but as a crow flies, you need the other features of the other type of compass

if you are under water, walking in areas where your line of site isn't visible all of the time due to trees, creeks, etc

you know you want to go to that mountain peak you can see so you start toward it

but as you are walking you can no longer see that peak and detours you take around thick brush or other objects make you unsure if you are still going toward your peak

a compass establishes a known direction, you read the compass and now you know exactly where N/S/E/W

now you adjust the markings on the compass so a line of travel is established at an angle to the closes know direction

in other words you establish your line of travel, from where you are to that peak

now when you are under water, in thick trees or out of your line of sight with the peak you just continue to walk your line of travel

you don't need to see N/E/S/W and you don't need to see the peak, as long as you stay or return to your line of travel you will get to the peak

as you travel there will be times when you can again see the peak/landmark

at that time (as long as you are sure it is the right peak/landmark) you can again establish your line of travel

you do this because the further from your peak you were the greater the angle of the line of travel, the closer you get the more accurate the line becomes

now using a map and a compass works the same way except you might not actually be able to see your peak/landmark from where you are

so you establish on the map where you are, and where you want to go, then establish the closes point of the compass N/E/S/W adjust your line of travel

if you draw your line of travel on the map then you may find landmarks on the map that are on or are close to your line of travel

now you can uses those landmarks as either a line of sight fo travel or an indicator that you are indeed going the right direction and how far you have come.

most maps include a scale and you could read that so you know your first landmark reached was 2000 feet from where you started

but you can also tell when you reach a landmark it may be 1/3 of the way you to where you want to go

so without knowing you traveled a mile you would still know you had twice the distance left to travel

now you can do the same thing with a button compass and a map, just not as precise. Or you can just use a button compass without a map if you have a line of site from your start, you just follow or stay walking in the direction of the closes point of the compass to where you want to go. When you can't see where you want to be just keep going in that direction until you do and make small correction in your path each time you can see your landmark.

[angelhelp]

Perhaps I should add that I don't expect anyone here to teach me. Sometime I'll find a suitably simplified explanation and all will become clear. Merely identifying my classroom windows as facing one direction or another is a big deal that I have to literally rethink every time.

[woodyz]

www.backpacker.com/skills/navigation/navigation-101-understanding-your-compass/

here is a study guide or training course on it

www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/land_navigation_map_reading/index.shtml

www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/land_navigation_map_reading/index.shtml

[angelhelp]

Aha... woodyz, I think you're establishing that one does indeed know where one is on the map.

If I knew, based on that premise, that I needed to walk south, I'd find myself an object due south, head that way, and check the compass again once I arrived. Line of sight travel is fine until objects impede travel... like you said, trees & such. I'd choose a situation like that to switch to wearing the compass so I wouldn't drop/lose it and could recheck things. Having a map in hand wouldn't be much help without some significant features other than, say, trees.

Our park here is full of hills and is laid out in a fairly narrow north/south strip. I've never managed to get lost in it because I know that I'll either reach a road or houses if I deviate much to the side. The hills are fairly steep, another deterrent (except in winter).

Back to your post, though... is the person trying to go from A to B? I still don't get that first part.

[angelhelp]

Ooooh... let's see how well I digest the info in your links. I'm also thinking it's time I posted the 4 directions on the floor of my classroon; the topic certainly arises often enough to make it worthwhile.

Off to read/digest... thanks!

[woodyz]

Knowing where you are on a map simply means you recognize some location on the map

a road, a hill, some landmark

so where are you from that road or landmark can you see it, can you hear a waterfall or traffic

while its true the sun is not always in the same place depending on where you are and what time of year it is

it's still true the sun rises from the East, travels to its apex and sets in the West

so finding the sun while knowing the time gives you east or west and if you know E or W you know North

get used to finding the sun a different times of the day using a landmark you know

lets start with your school

If at 8AM the sun is somewhere when you are standing at a specific location then it will be near there all of the time, same at 10am 2pm and 4pm

same as from your window, from tree in your yard or from a park bench or a tree in the park

if you are at a known place at a known time then if you know where the sun is from there at that time then you know east and west so you know N and S

[woodyz]

But

when you are in a building and you want to find the parking lot where your car is from where you are

that has nothing much to do with finding N or reading a compass

but everything to do with right and left and ahead or back

if you walked a block and turn right and walked a half block

to go back you walk the way you came from a half block and then turn left and walk a block

it doesn't matter if the block was N/E/S/W

[woodyz]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienteering

[cajunlady87]

Woodyz you are one hell of a smart person with a brain of maximum absorption of everything you've been taught and learned. Patience is another one of your greatest attributes. You explained a compass usage with utmost and thorough instructions. I'll bet you even taught cwi something but TW is a little tripped up. Poor man needs you to go visit or vice versa so he can get a refresher course. I'm sure even AH picked up some great pointers with your explanation to teach to her kids.

As for my directions they're so simple. For those who missed them they are Cajun directions where no compass is needed and understood clearly by everyone, native or not.

They are up da bayou, down da bayou, across da bayou and in da bayou.