Navigation with Map and Compass

Introduction

In this activity we learned classic orienteering methods in order to find points at the Priory (the location for this activity) that were given to us as coordinates.  These traditional oreinteering techniques are valuable skills to have in situations where you do not have a GPS, or where a GPS malfuntions.  In situations such as these, having a map and a compass, along with the abilities to properly use them can be necessary for your safety.

This activty also served as a way to evaluate the maps that we had made in a previous activity.  Earlier in the semester we were given an assignment to make navigation maps for the priory.  We were given access to a geodatabase with a variety of information, and it was up to us to decide what information we thought would be useful, and what we would be helpful for use to include on the map.  This activity will serve as the best way to determine if the maps were useful in actual navigation.

Study Area

The Priory is located 3 miles due south of the UW Eau Claire campus on approximately 112 acres of land (largely woodlands).  Previously known as St. Bede's Monastery, the priory was purchased by Blugold Real Estate, LLC, a subsidiary of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation Inc. for 1 million dollars.  The priory is now home to both the Childrens Nature Center, and the UWEC priory resident hall. 

Figure 1.  Map of priory location in relation to UW Eau Claire campus shown on left, map obtained from Priory Facebook page.  Aerial photo of Priory shown on right, image obtained from Google earth.

The above video shows a short tour of the building at the priory, as well as giving some background to the hopes that the foundation had for the property.  It is worth noting that not their has been conflict over the decision to buy the Priory, as well as conflict over decisions on what choices have been made regarding land use, such as the decisions to place the Childrens Nature Center and a Resident Hall at this location.

Figure 2. Quote on top right from Interim Chancellor Giles Bousquet on the Priory, YouTube comment from Professor Hupy on bottom, in response to the video tour of the priory building.

This background information about the politics surrounding the Priory were included because I think it is relevant when we are using it as part of a class at UW Eau Claire.  Important features of the priory to mention in regards to the navigation activity include that it is very thorny in certain areas, the brush can sometimes be thick, impairing visibility, and there are some steep elevation changes that sometimes proved to be difficult during our navigation.  The temperature was warm during the activity, and their was little to no wind, and sunny visible conditions.   

Methods

Professor Hupy and student Zach Hilgendorf taught how to utilize distance-bearing navigation with a compass and a map.  By placing the compass on a map between two points, and aligning the north arrow on the map with the north on the compass, you can get a bearing for the correct direction that you should travel.   An easy saying to remember when using this method is "keep the red in the shed" meaning that when using the bearing to find what direction you should be going, make sure theat the arrow that points to magnetic north is within the red outline that is on the compass.  A step by step tutorial is available at the USGS website.  When calculating an azimuth bearing, it is important to remember that magnetic north can be different from true north, and that you need to account for magnetic declination.  

Figure 3.  A compass similar to the one shown above was used during the navigation activity.  The transparency of the design is useful for being able to see the compass and the map at the same time.
 

Each group, consisting of three people, was given the following:

• A map that a group member had produced of the Priory with UTM coordinates
• A map that a group member had produced of the Priory with lat/long coordinates (printed on opposite side)
• A compass
• A list of five geographic points, labeled 1-5, that would need to be found in a specific order during the activity.

We plotted the points on the map, labeled them 1,2,3,4,5 and then drew lines and calculated the azimuth between them using a compass.  Each group was given a different order to find the points, so that the small teams could work independently of one another.  We had one person in our group hold the compass and tell the other team members when they lined up with the azimuth bearing.  We switched roles periodically to get a good sense of each role.  We were able to use this to essentially leapfrog ahead, and move faster.

The activity was also supposed to utilize our knowledge of pace counts determined in a previous activity, but since the scale at the bottom of our map was in miles instead of meters, it was difficult to actually use them.  After we found our first point, we were able to use it to approximate the distance and time it would take to get to the other points.

Results

We were able to find all of the marked birch trees (trees marked with pink flags) that showed the points that were given to us.  Some of the points were very easy to get to, and others required either smart navigation to avoid difficult terrain, or it involved simply fighting through thorns and going up and down steep hills.  We would usually be at least a few meters off from the tree.  We think that this might be a result of not being able to plot the points precisely enough on our map.

Discussion

Now that we have been through the activity, it is easy to find things that we could have changed in our maps to make them better.  Although the map that we had was very useful, it could have been improved by changing a few things.  We had two maps because Professor Hupy had them printed on both sides.  On one side was my map, and on the other side was group member Syler Behren's map.  We mostly used Syler's map because it had the grid in UTM meters, and it was clearer to read.



Figure 4.  Navigation map for Priory produced by Jacob Henden

My map unfortunately was not very useful.  The DEM, which I thought would be useful in understanding when to walk uphill vs. when to walk downhill, was actually just very distracting, and made the imagery of the landscape harder to see.  Additionally, the grid size that I chose was much to large, which made trying to plot any points difficult.  Another problem that we ran into is that it was too zoomed into the study area, and all of the points that we actually had to find in the activity were outside of the map. 

These are the changes that I would make to my map if I wanted to make it more useful for navigation:

• Label the contour lines
• Remove the DEM raster
• Decrease the grid spacing
• Increase the area shown
• Move the north arrow and scale bar outside into the border

Figure 5. Navigation map for Priory produced by Syler Behren 

Overall, I liked this map and found it very useful in the Navigation activity.  I like the grid spacing was smaller which made it easy to get at least relatively accurate with plotting points, and that the contour lines were labeled with elevation.  The biggest problem I had with the map, was that the scale bar was in miles, which is not a very easy unit to visualize distance in.  Additionally, it made it hard to utilize the pace counts.  The nice thing about this map, is that it kept everything simple, and didn't overcrowd anything with too much data.

These are the changes that I would make to this map if I wanted to make it more useful for navigation:

• Possibly even smaller grid spacing
• Scale bar in meters instead of miles

Aside from the map itself, other things that contributed to the success of the activity was the instruction given to us by Zach Hilgendorf, and by working together as a team.  As a group we were able to talk to one another about what we thought was the best way to approach any particular problem, and were also able to help each other find the path of least resistance to get to the point (for example finding when it was possible to maneuver around thorns, or when certain trenches could be avoided).  If I were ever to do any orienteering in the future, my list of things to remember would be

• Make sure to have a simple map, with a scale bar in meters
• Make sure to have a working compass
• Make sure to calculate for magnetic declination in the area
• Make sure to be aware of elevation changes
• Make sure to keep a level head

Conclusion

This activity was a fun way to teach us about orienteering, and give us the skills if we ever need to use it in the future.  It is not good to be completely reliant on GPS technology for navigation, because there can be circumstances where you loose this technology.  Additionally the activity was also a good opportunity for us to actually use maps that we had produced in class.  I think that it emphasizes one of the most important points that we have been taught in class.  That point is to consider what the map is going to be used for when you are making it.  This will help you understand what you should, and what you shouldn't put on the map.