What to do if you get lost and you need to get to the nearest settlement faster? How to find the right path if you are in an open area and cannot find the desired direction of movement? How to navigate in the forest? You will find answers to all these and other questions if you know how to work with the card correctly.
Orientation is a simple process and does not require much effort. To easily determine your location, you only need to know the important basics, which we will consider below.
Orientation Stages
Every tourist should know how to navigate in the forest or in the wasteland in case of unforeseen circumstances. The whole process of determining the dislocation on the ground consists of three components:
- Finding locality - points of location with the help of famous objects nearby.
- Accurate determination of the location point on the map and the location of the objects you need.
- Determining the direction of the route and the cardinal points. To do this, you need to properly orient the map, then find your location on it and compare the diagram with the surrounding area. To correctly orient the map, you need to rotate it so that all directions on it become parallel and coincide with existing lines on the ground. It is also important that the northern point of the map (its upper part) is turned, respectively, to the north.
Work with map
Before you go on any trip, you must first make out the route exactly, if necessary, discuss it with other participants in the trip. To ensure safety on the way, you need to know how to navigate the map, use it correctly and be able to read it correctly.
Working with a map is a complex and interesting process, with the help of it you can study the terrain around the selected route to the smallest detail, and specify the location of all the objects indicated on the diagram. In addition, the skills of working with the card will help you and develop a large number of personal qualities. For example, the ability to think quickly, a keen mind, a developed eye, increased attentiveness, etc.
Before entering the route, mark on the map all the main landmarks and put on it the direction of your movement. It is advisable to draw as many landmarks as possible using all visible objects. This small, at first glance, nuance will help you feel more confident on the road and enjoy the journey in a good mood.
Types of terrain orientation on the map
In contrast to the way in which the necessary objects are searched, there are various types of orientation:
- Topographic. It is carried out with the help of the initial determination of the cardinal points and the subsequent finding of their location with the help of them.
- General. Orientation by approximate finding your location in space, as well as by using the direction of the route and time of movement.
- Detailed. The most accurate and verified determination of the location on the map and the direction of the path. Often, in addition to the map, this type of orientation requires additional instruments and measurements (for example, a travel compass, a measuring ruler, additional landmarks, etc.). The compass is often used when traveling on a monotonous and empty terrain, where there are no obvious objects to determine the location. For example, in the taiga, desert, etc. Moreover, additional devices cannot be dispensed with under visibility conditions (when walking at night, moving in high fog, excessive smoke, bad weather conditions - rain or snow).
Orientation sequence
So, how is the process of orientation on the ground?
Sequentially consider the whole process.
First you need to correctly position the map in front of you and accurately find the cardinal points. A compass or any two landmarks can help with this.
How to navigate by compass and map?
Compass is an indispensable tool in determining its location, as well as a map of the area. If you have both tools, then finding this point will be much easier. The compass will help you to know exactly how the cardinal points are oriented around you, where is the north, where is the south on the map.
How to find the direction of movement?
First, pick up the compass, lay it horizontally on a map and release the device brake all the way. After that, the arrow indicating the cardinal points should start moving, and then set itself in the right direction (to the north).
In the same way, after that, all other cardinal points can be determined. If you face north, then behind you, respectively, will be south, on the right - east, and on the left - west. The directions of the cardinal points will also be indicated on the compass scale itself.
Once you have decided on the cardinal points, it is necessary to correctly orient the map regarding them.
Orientation using two selected objects
First you need to find and select any two objects relative to which you will be guided in place. At the same time, it is important that both of them are located at a small distance from each other, in the general visibility zone.
Then go to one of the landmarks and find it on the topographic map.
Look at another landmark and rotate the diagram towards you so that the direction vector to the second object on the map coincides with the same direction vector on the ground.
Orientation with linear features
How to learn to navigate the map, if you confidently know your current location, and where you are, there are similar areas? Linear objects of orientation include straight roads (country roads, passers-by), intersections, rivers and forest paths. They will need to be taken as landmarks.
To do this, you need to place a map in your hands so that the direction vector of the road or any other linear object (power line, communication line, etc.) on the map coincides with the vector of the same line at the place where you are. If the map is located correctly, then objects located at both ends of the line will be located on the map in the same places.
Orientation of the map is preferably done along the lines of the surrounding area and landmarks. Only where they are difficult to find, the location of the map must be determined by compass.
Finding the exact location on the ground
After the correct location of the map, there is already the opportunity to begin the orientation itself and search for your current location. To do this, you need to know how to navigate the topographic map according to the terrain and the objects around you.
For any tasks, for starters, they usually find themselves on the map. This, in turn, can also be done in different ways.
Locating local objects on a map
The option is suitable if you are located close to any geographical object - whether it be a road, lake or river. In this case, it’s not difficult to understand how to navigate the map. It is the conventional sign of the found landmark that will become your starting point of orientation and help you find your location.
Positioning relative to nearby objects by eye
The easiest and most effective option for orienting yourself on the map. This method is similar to the previous one, it differs only in that initially you need to find 2-3 landmarks nearby on your own. Then you need to pick up a map and find the designation of these landmarks on it. According to the information received, put the point of your location on the geographical diagram.
Guidance with distance information
This option can be used only in cases where your route runs along linear landmarks (past communication lines, roads, forest paths, rivers). Thanks to them, it is possible to navigate with poor visibility around, in difficult weather conditions or when there are no objects for orientation around.
How to navigate the map in this case? Start your movement from any of the linear objects on the map, while remembering the number of steps (your location is determined by scale).
In order to subsequently find yourself on the map, you need to postpone on it on the map scale the distance on the terrain traveled from the starting point of the path (landmark) to any specific direction. The scale is measured in steps from the beginning of the route to the point of reaching a new landmark.
Determining a location by comparing the terrain on the map with the terrain around
This method consists in constant reconciliation of landmarks on the map with objects of the surrounding area. In the process, you need to find new reference points nearby and compare them with the symbols on the topographic map.
Serif location method
This method is mainly used for routes in open areas. If there is a road or any other linear object nearby, you must correctly rotate the map, then mark on it any landmark that you see in the area around. After that, take a ruler and attach it to the map in the direction of the landmark.
Orientation using the sighting method
In the case of movement in an open area, you also need to know how to navigate on the map. In such conditions, the method of sighting is used.
As in the previous version, you must select the object indicated on the map, which you see next to you on the ground. After that, you need to take a pencil, set it vertically on the symbol of the selected landmark and, without changing the direction of the map, mentally draw a line through the object and the pencil. After that, mark the point of its location on the linear object.
Sansing orientation
For this method, it is necessary to determine at least two landmark objects on the map and on the ground (the third is needed for verification). First, orient the map correctly, then identify the selected objects on it. After that, in the same way as in the method of sighting, in turn perform the same operations with each of the three landmarks. At the end, you should get three drawn lines on the map. The intersection point of these lines will be the location of your location.