navigating+with+map+alone

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=Navigating with map alone =

**Most people recommend learning to navigate with the map alone before using a compass as well. ** This will encourage making maximum use of the information on the map.

It should be obvious, but may be worth stressing that **in order to navigate with a map alone it is necessary to be able to map read well** - a knoweldge and understanding of scale, and of point, linear and area features is needed.

Suggested "rules"
1. Set the map when you start 2. Always keep the map set (ie orientated to features on the ground) - this will involve turning the map round: another reason for not looping the cord from the map holder around your neck 3. Keep track of your route, noting features you pass, either mentally or (better) by “thumbing" the map – moving your thumb to point to the place you have just passed. (instead of your thumb you can mark a laminated map or map in a plastic map case to show your last position)

When navigating break the route down into legs to avoid having to remember more than 6 things - the more overloaded the working memory is the more likely you are to make a navigational error. If necessary enlist the help of a companion to remember some things (eg features that indicate you have gone too far).
 * The working memory can contain about 6 items at a time. **

The 4 Ds
 The 4 Ds will help remember navigation on a leg. 1) Distance to the end of the leg 2) Duration of the leg (how long you expect it to take to get there) – if you have a watch with a stop watch function reset this at the start of each leg 3) Direction 4) Description <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> a. Thing(s) you will pass on the way (tick features) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> b. Contours (e.g. up hill, down hill, slope to left) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> c. A feature that tells you you are approaching the end of the leg <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> d. The feature at the end of the leg <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> e. A feature that will tell you if you have overshot the end

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In feature rich terrain with lots of path junctions/field boundaries, then legs will be short. In featureless terrain legs may be longer and more reliance will be put on distance and duration. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">If the features you encounter differ from those you were expecting //stop// and relocate your position straight away **. The most likely reason for this is that you are heading in a different direction to the one you intended to follow. Simply speeding up and hoping for the best is likley to make your situation worse not better.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Developing navigation memory
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This exercise can be done in pairs or small groups. At least one person in each pair/group must be competent at navigation! <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1) All orientate the map for starting position and identify start point on the map <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2) One person leads the others on a short leg (< 1km) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3) The other(s) try to describe the features they have passed on the way, what they can see from the end point, and estimate the distance they have travelled <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4) AFTER that stage they look at the map and try to identify the features they described, and their new position. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5) The roles are swapped and steps repeated