Learn Land Navigation
Clear, practical guides to modern land navigation — reading a topographic map, plotting and reading coordinates, using a compass with your map, and putting GPS to work in the field.
Foundations
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Land Navigation
What is land navigation Land navigation is the practice of knowing where you are and finding where you want to go when you're traveling on foot in terrain that…
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Accuracy vs. Precision
What accuracy and precision are Two words that get used interchangeably in casual speech, but mean different things: Accuracy is how close a measurement is to…
Maps & Terrain
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Map Reading
What is map reading Map reading is the practice of extracting useful information from a printed map — where things are, how far apart they are, what kind of…
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Map Types
The maps a navigator actually encounters There is no single "right" kind of map — there's the right kind for the job in front of you. A map is a deliberate…
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Map Scale
What map scale is Map scale is the relationship between a distance on the map and the corresponding distance on the ground. It tells you that some distance on…
Introduction to Map Coordinates
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Introduction to Map Coordinates
What a map coordinate is A map coordinate is just an address for a spot on the Earth — a short set of numbers (and sometimes letters) that names one place…
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Choosing a Coordinate System
Which coordinate system should you use? Most GPS receivers come out of the box set to lat/lon, and many people never change it — they don't realize there's a…
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Map Datums
Datum vs. coordinate system These two ideas get conflated constantly, and they're not the same thing: A datum is the underlying Earth-model — the ellipsoid…
Coordinate Systems
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Latitude and Longitude
What latitude and longitude are Latitude and longitude use angular measurements to describe a position on the surface of the Earth. The system has been in use…
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UTM Coordinates
A Quick Introduction to UTM Coordinates UTM coordinates are an option in nearly every outdoor recreation GPS receiver, and a common secondary grid on U.S…
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MGRS Coordinates
What MGRS is MGRS (Military Grid Reference System) is the alphanumeric packaging that the U.S. military and NATO use for the same underlying grid as UTM. A…
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USNG Coordinates
What USNG is For a hands-on, illustrated walkthrough of reading and writing USNG, the MapTools tutorial USNG Quick Guide covers the same ground as this page in…
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Other Coordinate Systems
This page is a catch-all for the location systems you'll meet beyond the big four — lat/lon, UTM, MGRS, and USNG. Two come up most often: other countries'…
GPS
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GPS for Land Navigation
What GPS does for a land navigator A handheld GPS receiver answers one question precisely: "what coordinate am I at right now?" Combined with the skill and…
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GPS Setup for Map Coordinates
What GPS setup is for A modern handheld GPS, out of the box, will tell you where you are — but in a format and against a reference that may not match the map…
Compass & Bearings
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North References (True, Magnetic, Grid) and Declination
The three norths A bearing is "the angle clockwise from north" — but which north? Three answers, all in active use, all slightly different. True North — the…
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Compass Uses
What a compass is used for In wilderness navigation, a compass is used to do five things: General orientation to the four cardinal directions — which way is…
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Compass Bearings
What a bearing is A bearing is a horizontal angle measured from a north reference line, in a clockwise direction, to a point of interest some distance away…
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Working with Bearings and Your GPS
How bearings and a GPS work together In modern land navigation, the GPS and the compass divide the labor. The GPS is excellent at telling you where you are and…
In the Field
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Route Planning and Following
What route planning and following are Route planning is choosing the path you intend to walk before you start walking it. Route following is executing that…