Simple Common Methods Of Navigation.

One of the best things to do is study up on land navigation from military manuals and training video courses. Land navigation is how we normally get around any way. Most of us just don't realize that we can relate it to jungle, temperate and different kinds of other movement over land as well.

I'll give you a short example: Let's say you start a trip from Los Angeles going to New York City. What major references might you use along the way? How about other cities? How about major landmarks? How about key intersections? So we start off in L.A. and head east. Our first big reference city might be Phoenix, Az. Next would be like Albuquerque, New Mexico. Oklahoma City could be our third reference. We could then cut north to Kansas City. Then we cut east to St. Louis, looking for the St. Louis Arch and the Mississippi River for landmarks as we get close to them. We continue to use cities, landmarks and roadway intersections for references until we get to our objective. Now let's transfer that over to moving overland.

Let's take a look at a terrain map. On most military style maps you will see different things depicted on the map. You can use these different features, if you know what they are, for reference points, like you were doing with the cities. So you start your journey knowing that you have to go from Point A to Point B. You know the general direction that you need to head using a compass. But the key is to note key features and move from one feature to another key feature. So, there you are, about to move out and off in the distance you see a church steeple. You note on your map that the church is about 1/4th of the way along the route you need to cover to get to Point B. Why not make the church steeple your first general reference point? That's exactly the kind of thing you want to look for when you pick a reference point: things that are easy to see from a distance and that are easy to identify. You also want to determine your boundaries too. You want to know when you might have gone too far. So, you know your limits left, right and beyond your objective. Sort of like, in your mind, "If I get to the creek, I've gone too far west and need to turn back about 200 meters or so." You keep this stuff in mind and keep your movement plan SIMPLE. Don't make a complex plan that nobody can follow including yourself.

 

As to north, you have grid north, true north and magnetic north. Look up the differences between the 3 different north definitions. Magnetic north is actually the magnetic north pole which makes our compasses work and is situated somewhere in Canada and south of the actual real north pole. Grid north are the lines that are shown on maps and those lines may have up to a 17 degree, or more, angle of deviation from magnetic north which means that you have to take such deviation into account when doing land navigation. True north is what you have when you reference to the North Pole at the top of the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_north

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_north

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_declination

 

If I was planning LA to NY
My plan would centre around acquiring a light plane maybe several times!
None of this ground stuff!

 

Arkane, guess what? Whether you go by airplane, train, truck, car, motorcycle, bus or 20 mule team you can use these same techniques for ALL vehicles.