The best way to learn to read/navigate with a map?

[jay91]

What's the best way to learn to navigate with a map books? And lots of practice? Thanks jay.

[jBay]

Orienteering - fun way to practice

[ScotRoutes]

Lots of local courses available if you look. Try Park Rangers if you have any

[Sussex Paul]

These guides from the os are pretty good - http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/resourc ... index.html

Then get out and practice. There are local mountain bike orienteering events down our way, they are normally pretty good fun

[jay91]

Thanks for the advice guys

[PaulB]

If you struggle with nav, it could be worth while doing a National Navigation Award. There is a guy at Tideswell in the Peak that runs them. If you want a contact let me know.

Paul

[Dan_K]

Buy this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Naviga ... 0007424604

[Zippy]

Stop using the sat nav in the car. Whilst it's a different type of Nav, it does exercise the part of the brain required for nav. You also end up in interesting places at times and you're ability to take junctions far faster than you thought imaginable also improves ;-)

[Ian]

When I started out, I learnt and applied a lot of info from this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountaincraft-L ... 0956886906

The other thing is just study maps - and I mean really look at them. Understand every symbol, line and feature. Imagine the shape of hills by reading the contours, and the profile of tracks by the way is crosses them. So much info in a single sheet of 1:50k land ranger, it can keep me entertained for hours.

[Wotsits]

The other thing is just study maps - and I mean really look at them. Understand every symbol, line and feature. Imagine the shape of hills by reading the contours, and the profile of tracks by the way is crosses them. So much info in a single sheet of 1:50k land ranger, it can keep me entertained for hours.

+1
Can't beat a good map & the more familiar you are with them the more it'll become second nature when using one.

[Ray Young]

The other thing is just study maps - and I mean really look at them. Understand every symbol, line and feature. Imagine the shape of hills by reading the contours, and the profile of tracks by the way is crosses them. So much info in a single sheet of 1:50k land ranger, it can keep me entertained for hours.

+1
Can't beat a good map & the more familiar you are with them the more it'll become second nature when using one.

+1
After reading about it there is no substitute for getting out there and relating what you see around you with what's on the map which takes practice but soon becomes second nature. Also if navigating by map alone always know where you are on the map, tick landmarks off in your head as you go then if you do take a wrong turn it's easy to backtrack. Lastly believe the map, if what you see around you doesn't quite fit the map then your in the wrong place.

[FLV]

A book on the basics then practice on an area you know. Take the map out and spend a bit of time recognising features and landmarks.
Then it's just practice

[slarge]

No amount of theory can replace good practicing, so once you have had a bit of a read and picked up some basics, get out there and practice. A map board on your bars is a really good idea as it allows you to look at the map whilst on the move.

And don't wear sunglasses - I once spent ages looking for some buildings marked on the map that were actually a small woodland.

Try not to navigate using the obvious features like roads, but if you can, use the terrain ( the road follows the valley type approach). And forests change shape (at least the managed ones do).

And the skills do disappear if you don't keep them polished.

[jay91]

Stop using the sat nav in the car. Whilst it's a different type of Nav, it does exercise the part of the brain required for nav. You also end up in interesting places at times and you're ability to take junctions far faster than you thought imaginable also improves ;-)

I don't use a sat nav .ostly look at google before hand.

[jay91]

When I started out, I learnt and applied a lot of info from this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountaincraft-L ... 0956886906

The other thing is just study maps - and I mean really look at them. Understand every symbol, line and feature. Imagine the shape of hills by reading the contours, and the profile of tracks by the way is crosses them. So much info in a single sheet of 1:50k land ranger, it can keep me entertained for hours.

Thanks ian will look at getting that book for my birthday in few weeks.

[jay91]

Thank you for all the advice I really appreciate it!

[Bearbonesnorm]

There was something on radio 4 last year, a chap on explaining that it generally takes 2 - 3 generations for 'us' to lose a specific skill. The exception was navigating with a map, that has pretty much been lost within a single generation.

Throughly recommend the Ultimate Navigation manual as suggested by Dan. Covers every aspect without being longwinded, dull or overly complex.

It's cheap here: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Ultimate-Navi ... -PLA-_-v01



Something else I'd suggest having a go at, is navigating without a map. It sounds terrible but it's surprising how quickly you can 'tune in' to the obvious, natural things around you. It'll really help you to understand the land which in turn makes using a map much easier ... I know it all sounds a bit '3 cheers for Ray Mears' but it isn't, honest. It can also help with things like finding water, locating the best overnight spot, etc.

This would be a worthwhile read.
Much cheapness here: http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/w ... AkEf8P8HAQ

[welshwhit]

One of the best things I did when training for various bits and pieces was go for a lovely walk in an area i kind of knew [read here - if I did totally balls up I could still get home ] with the map in my pocket, and as stew has said, really pay attention to the environment and lay of the land around you.

Then... get out the map and 'find 'yourself' using all the info you've gathered as you trundled along. Ian's advice earlier on about really studying maps is also sound, as this helps you to match the features on the ground you've seen to those on the map and orientate yourself.

A compass is useful, but unless you can't see [fog snow etc] you can get by without [I'm not saying that you shouldn't take one with you mind!]

The other way is to go and get completely lost with someone skilled with a map and let them laugh at you whilst you find your way home!

Drew

[Taylor]

Lyle Brotherton has short videos on you tube which are full of sound advice in bite size portions.

[Adventurer]

Do some proper orienteering with an orienteering club.

As well as being b.....dy hard your fitness will be put to the test. I have always been pretty fit and thought I was until I started with n orienteering group and even the over 50s completely trampled me.
Took me a year and a half to get to the same fitness levels.

Orienteering, fell running and mountain marathons is proper hard core and is excellent at map reading development with no GPS backup permitted.

[whitestone]

Did some orienteering in my schooldays - the maps are very specific but definitely good for thinking on your feet.

Done lots of fell running, not too much navigation required in these. Only did one mountain marathon and I found the navigation to be pretty straightforward TBH, just one control on each day was hard to find, that on the second day was due to heavy rain turning every reentrant in to a stream but only one was marked on the map

One thing that's quite useful is to act as navigator in a car: you can tick off features as you pass them - "edge of wood with track on left", "100 metres then farm lane on right"; etc. Gets you used to matching the map to the landscape.

Navigating isn't so much a single technique but mixing and matching several techniques but perhaps the main one is not to get lost in the first place It's much harder to relocate (fancy term for working out where you are) than it is to keep on top of things. You need to keep verifying your position every few minutes or at each major feature that way if you do get temporarily unsure of your location then you've got a smaller area of confusion. Leaving things for half an hour while you pedal blindly on is only going to make your job harder, five minutes on a bike is maybe half a mile or a mile at most off road, half an hour could be five or six miles. The techniques themselves aren't hard to learn, it's knowing which one to apply in any given situation.

The last time I got lost was in Scotland, I was walking up a couple of Munros and the route description stated that at the top of the first you should follow the old fence line down to the col to get to the second. Easy! I had a map, unfortunately it only had the first top on it. More awkwardly the cloud was down. So I got to the first summit and followed the fence line. It was only when I dropped out of the cloud that I realised I was wrong as I was staring at a glen not a col and second peak. Fences go in two directions Back to the summit and down the way I'd come. It turns out that the fence line heading to the col was missing quite a few posts so I'd missed it.

Useful books: Mountain navigation for Fell runners by Martin Bagness; The Peter Cliff book; Scotland's Winter Mountains by Martin Moran.

The first might be hard to get hold of now, I think it has been republished as an ebook.

[Zippy]

The other thing is just study maps - and I mean really look at them. Understand every symbol, line and feature. Imagine the shape of hills by reading the contours, and the profile of tracks by the way is crosses them. So much info in a single sheet of 1:50k land ranger, it can keep me entertained for hours.

I concur, and an easy way to integrate this into life is to wallpaper your bedroom wall This is mine:


Map-Wall by zippyonline, on Flickr

[ScotRoutes]

OS have stopped selling flat Landrangers, which is a real pain in the ass.

[ianfitz]

OS have stopped selling flat Landrangers, which is a real pain in the ass.

You can get an unfolded os map from their custom map service. It costs more than a standard sheet though...

[Zippy]

OS have stopped selling flat Landrangers, which is a real pain in the ass.

That one on my wall is made up of lots of A3s