19,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
The classic map and compass navigation guide, updated with new features and tips
Be Expert with Map and Compass is a popular, easy-to-use orienteering handbook that has been helping people find their way for more than 70 years. This new edition contains a variety of updates on the essentials of map reading, with new photos and stories included throughout. In this refreshed, modern take on the classic outdoor navigation guide, readers will learn:
- How to read a map, map symbols, traveling by map and compass alone or by map and compass together, finding bearings, sketching maps, and traveling in the wilderness
- Compass design basics, how to test your compass skills, understand declination, and special uses of your compass in fishing and hunting
- Competitive orienteering basics, with information on how to organize an orienteering event and prepare the course beforehand
The Fourth Edition of Be Expert with Map and Compass remains the book of choice for professional outdoorsmen, novice orienteers, and outdoor organizations as well as teachers, scout leaders, recreational hikers, hunters, and others around the world seeking to feel more comfortable in the wilderness.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 337
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Preface to the Fourth Edition
PART 1: THE ART (AND SCIENCE) OF NAVIGATION AND ORIENTEERING
The Map and Compass in Your Everyday Life
The Map and Compass in the Outdoors
Map and Compass for the Family
Map and Compass Bringing People Together
Using the Map and Compass in Education
The “Passion” of Orienteering
PART 2: DISCOVERY
What Is a Map?
What the Map Tells
Traveling by Map
PART 3: EXPLORATION
The Origin of the Compass
Compass Design Basics
Traveling by Compass Alone
Test Your Compass Skills
Fishing and Hunting: Special Use of Your Compass
A Hunter's Story
PART 4: ADVENTURE
The Excitement of the Uncertain
Traveling by Map and Compass: Orienteering
Hints on Wilderness Orienteering
PART 5: CHALLENGE
The History of the Sport of Orienteering
Your First Orienteering Race
Hints on Competitive Orienteering
Overcoming Obstacles
Following Your Routes
The Postmortem
PART 6: ORGANIZING AN ORIENTEERING EVENT
Preparing the Course
Running an Orienteering Event
Answers to Tests
Epilogue
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface to the Fourth Edition
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Answers to Tests
Epilogue
Index
End User License Agreement
Pages
iii
iv
v
vii
viii
ix
x
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
265
266
267
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
Be Expert with MAP & COMPASS
The Complete Orienteering Handbook
FOURTH EDITION
Carina Kjellström Elgin
Björn Kjellström
Copyright © 2026 by Björn Kjellström and Carina Kjellström Elgin. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
ISBNs: 9781394375615 (paperback), 9781394375639 (ePDF), 9781394375622 (ePub).
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
The manufacturer’ s authorized representative according to the EU General Product Safety Regulation is Wiley-VCH GmbH, Boschstr. 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany, e-mail: [email protected].
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572- 3993. For product technical support, you can find answers to frequently asked questions or reach us via live chat at https://support.wiley.com.
If you believe you’ve found a mistake in this book, please bring it to our attention by emailing our reader support team at [email protected] with the subject line “Possible Book Errata Submission.”
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2025040278 (print)
Cover Design: WileyCover Images: © Creative/stock.adobe.com, © 32 pixels/stock.adobe.com
To get the most out of the lessons in this book, please download a copy of the TRAINING MAP. It can easily be downloaded and printed on letter-sized paper from www.beexpertwithmapandcompass.com. A full-size version can also be downloaded or ordered from USGS Topo Maps (Ticonderoga Quadrangle, New York-Vermont, 7.5 minute series).
Preface to the Fourth Edition
Björn Kjellström at his beloved cabin in Sweden in the 1960s.
My father, Björn Kjellström, first published this book, Be Expert with Map and Compass, in 1970. Several editions, 4 language translations, and 70 years later, BEWMAC, as it is affectionately called by its enthusiasts, continues to be an institution for generations of people seeking important basic navigational skills.
Why does this awkwardly titled book continue to be in demand, when Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation technology is available on every smart phone? Why should we still learn to use a map and compass?
In short, the simple technology of an orienteering base plate compass is still the industry standard, almost 100 years after it was developed by my father and engineer Gunnar Tillander. It does not have a battery that needs charging, and it uses Earth's dependable magnetic field. Unlike the satellite systems of GPS, the magnetosphere will not fail and cannot be tampered with. And, physical impediments like mountains, tall buildings, and even heavy rains won't make you “lose service.”
So this basic “how-to” still fulfills the need of a simple, straightforward way to understand maps and compasses and how to use them together. It offers projects and exercises that are time tested and have not been improved upon. Maybe you want to feel comfortable hiking or hunting. Maybe you want to get your kids or a youth group outside learning a skill that does not require a computer. While not everyone wants to try competitive orienteering, BEWMAC gives you simple tips on getting involved as a way to practice your navigation skills for your own goals or to actually see what those people are doing running around in the woods.
My father had a fascination with the force that guides that compass needle, and maybe this update can get more readers to appreciate the wonder of Earth's magnetic field. His business card said “Magnetism has shaped my life,” and he even visited the Magnetic North, the northernmost convergence point in Earth's magnetic field. Created by churning molten metals in the Earth's core, the magnetic field, the magnetosphere, protects the Earth from solar radiation and solar winds. The needle in the compass uses the magnetic field around Earth to orient toward Magnetic North, and in subsequent chapters you will learn how to harness this amazing power.
And how fascinating the magnetic field is! It is also used by migratory birds and mammals to navigate and even find their breeding sites. Butterflies, whales, sharks, and more use the magnetic field, but, while still a mystery, there are different theories, including magnetite crystals in the body. Sea turtles find their way back to the same beach to lay their eggs. And those salmon swimming upstream seem to have used the magnetic field to get to the correct stream and then possibly smell to get back to their home stream. While this book can't delve into this amazing process, it can get you using the magnificence of the magnetic field and appreciating all that is around us.
And while the magnetic field will always be there for us to use through the compass, your GPS, though convenient, can fail. Based on a network of satellites, your receiver currently uses four satellites that transmit radio signals to determine your latitude, longitude, altitude, and time. The United States operates a satellite system, as do Russia, China, and the European Union. And while scientists are always working on systems that will improve Global Positioning Systems, satellite systems could potentially fail. What if the international community no longer wants to cooperate and share these networks? Could a country or terrorist interfere with these essential transmissions? There could be electronic interference from radios, televisions, etc. There can be atmospheric disruption of signals from solar flares or lightning. Physical obstructions like mountains, trees, and buildings can block GPS function. And, your phone or receiver battery could die, with no opportunity to charge it.
But don't worry, with this trusty guide and your compass, you'll find your way.
One of my father's main goals with this book was to get people back outdoors, enjoying nature's beauty and mystery. We aren't all going to be competitive orienteers, but this book will teach any of us how to master a map and compass to give freedom and empowerment in the outdoors. He wanted hikers, cross-country skiers, hunters, and anglers to gain the confidence to explore nature. He intended for parents, teachers, and youth leaders to use the steps in the book to teach young people an exciting and useful skill that they can use the rest of their lives, as well as pique their curiosity in the world around them. We hope this book will help get more people out in the woods.
Many people are passionate about this book. Those who know it seem to love it. They tell me their dad taught them how to orienteer with it, and they are now using it with their own children. Or they used it in Boy Scouts or summer camp or college PE. Or their Canine Search and Rescue unit has it as required reading. It's almost a little cult following among outdoor enthusiasts and orienteers. When I recently searched for new photos to use, one gentleman wrote, “First, I am not sure if you can truly appreciate what a legend your father was, what a major impact he had on orienteering in the United States, how influential his book has been, and how much he affected my life (positively) and that of others. And, of course what he did with Silva compasses also had an amazing impact on orienteering, hiking, etc.”
Thank you for continuing to reach for this little book. Having the opportunity to update it on its seventieth anniversary has been fun and an honor, a way to have wonderful memories of woodland walks with my dad.
Carina Kjellström Elgin
The Plains, Virginia
PART 1THE ART (AND SCIENCE) OF NAVIGATION AND ORIENTEERING
Primitive maps have guided humans since our earliest days on this planet. What led us on trade routes, ensured our return from exploration, and helped locate opposing forces in war eventually evolved into the modern map and compass.
In the 1930s, two Swedish brothers, Björn and Alvar Kjellström, were at the top of the sport of orienteering, which requires accurate and fast use of a map and compass to find various markers, or control points, in the terrain. Together with engineer Gunnar Tillander, they developed the Silva compass and established the Silva Company in Stockholm, Sweden, to manufacture and market their product. What was so different about the Silva system was the clear base, the built-in protractor, and the liquid-filled compass capsule that offered a faster reading. All modern field compasses are based on these developments, which provide speed and accuracy in the taking of bearings, especially key in the sport of orienteering.
Today, many people depend on the Global Positioning System (GPS), found on every modern cell phone, to get from place to place. GPS satellite navigation relies on a network of 31 satellites developed and operated by the United States, as well as three other constellations from Russia, China, and the European Union that all offer free use to the international community. The satellites transmit radio signals. A GPS receiver uses four satellites to determine its latitude, longitude, altitude, and the time. There is always research going on to improve upon these systems.
Google Maps is a web service that can be used to give turn-by-turn navigation by car, foot, bike, and public transportation. It can give real-time traffic updates and suggest the most efficient routes. Local businesses and points of interest are shown along the way. Google Maps can be useful, educational, and real fun to peruse the different satellite, aerial, and street views.
You may have seen a little Google Maps car, part of the “Street View Fleet,” driving around your neighborhood with a 360° camera on the roof. The “Street View” is updated about once a year in densely populated areas; about every three years in more rural areas. If you haven't already, take a good look at Google Maps in general, and perhaps find your own home.
Geocaching has been a fun activity for more than three million people on this planet. It is basically outdoor treasure hunting, using GPS-enabled devices, like a GPS receiver or smart phone. Participants use GPS coordinates to find the cache (container) hidden there. It gets people outside, which is great, but instead of navigating by GPS, why not make it more challenging and educational using a compass?
All of this amazing technology may make the use of maps and compasses seem outdated and irrelevant.
However, understanding and being able to use these “traditional” tools is as important as ever. Total dependence on GPS-type navigation tools removes the important fundamental skill of independently being able to position oneself in one's environs. What if you exit a hotel on a trip to New York City and have no clue on how to orient yourself ? Even if we all soon carry a personal GPS in our cell phone so we “never get lost,” a lack of geographical sense locally and globally would sadly leave you dependent on machine or another person as you move about.
It is empowering to know where you are, especially through a constant innate sense of direction. By learning to use a map and compass, navigating skills are ingrained and useful in everyday “personal orientation.” You can figure out where that bus stop should be or how to get home after a bike ride.
GPS systems can break down, malfunction, or become lost. They do not perform well in foggy conditions and in places where trees, mountains, canyons, and other physical obstructions block your line to the orbiting satellites that a GPS needs to accurately pinpoint its position. Many of us have television service that is dependent on a satellite and know how bad weather or technical malfunctions can interrupt your favorite movie. Similarly, your GPS could leave you high and dry … or low and wet. There are just too many scenarios where a GPS could fail, especially when you are out in nature, far from help.
In addition to physical barriers to GPS, electronic interference can cause unplanned interruptions. Radios, televisions, and even microwaves can disrupt GPS signals. Atmospheric interference, such as solar flares and lightning, can also impact your ability to navigate with GPS. Not keeping the software updated can cause glitches. Could an enemy country or terrorist group knock out the international satellite system?
And we've all probably experienced having our phone battery run down with no immediate way to recharge. There was a story in the news in early 2025 that illustrated just such a situation. A father–son team got lost hiking in Utah, stuck on a remote ledge for 13 hours. The father said they got lost because their GPS navigator application chose the “most efficient” route as going over a desolate mountain. Not only did it lead them over treacherous terrain, it also drained the phone battery. By chance, a backpack left by a lost hiker the month before provided life-saving contents to get them through a cold night in the elements. The father said that he had always gone “old school” before, with a map and compass. Having never been led astray that way, he vowed to return to his compass.
It is imperative to have a backup system to your GPS if you are out hiking, boating, hunting, or otherwise enjoying the great outdoors. Because of their simple, non-mechanical, non-electrical construction, compasses seldom break. The red arrow rarely loses its ability to point north, as it depends on nature's magnificent, unbreakable magnetic field. At the least, learn to follow a compass and you won't be wandering aimlessly around in circles. Walk in a straight line, and you may eventually find a familiar landmark, a road to rescue, or a place to ask for help.
Being able to use a map and compass effectively certainly provides an important safety factor, but it also opens up a huge world of fun and recreation. With a map and compass as steady companions, and the ability to use them properly, the art of orienteering—the skill of finding your way not only along the highways and country roads but also through woods and fields, through mountainous territory, and around lakes—becomes a useful skill, an intriguing hobby, and perhaps even a new sport.
The sport of orienteering on the elite, international level continues to evolve as a highly technical challenge, beyond the scope of this book. However, Be Expert with Map & Compass will teach you the skills you need for safe outdoor navigation, for fun, for hiking, and for hunting. The beginning orienteering exercises we give you are useful practice for all navigation, and it may pique your interest in getting involved in the sport of orienteering at the local level.
The Map and Compass in Your Everyday Life
We all make use of maps and compass directions in our everyday lives, consciously or unconsciously.
When you sit down to plan a trip, whether it's on foot or by automobile, train, ship, or air, you find the relevant maps and charts, hard copy or online. You try to figure out the shortest way to go or the best way to see whatever interests you, be it historical sites, shopping malls, or fishing holes. Asking a source like MapQuest is useful for many things, and a car or handheld GPS can tell you a lot, but perusing a good old map is still often best. During the trip, you repeatedly consult the map or GPS to check where you are and where you are going (and perhaps, to answer that age-old question, “Are we there yet?”).
When someone asks you for directions or when someone gives them to you, your brain should automatically attempt to draw an imaginary map of the location. In your mind you might see roads as lines, rivers as bands, and buildings as small squares, just as they are represented on a map. Just walking or driving to the grocery store involves a mental image of the routes available, and just like in orienteering, you may refer to obstacles that might hinder you and choose a better way. Best avoid that construction at that corner and take a different path. It may be longer, but given the terrain (construction blocking the road), the alternate route should get you there most efficiently. Always having some idea of where you are, and which way is north or west, is a skill we all should have.
All are always welcome. (Courtesy of Quantico Orienteering Club)
Help is easy to find. (Courtesy of Quantico Orienteering Club)
Setting off with friends. (Courtesy of Quantico Orienteering Club)
The Map and Compass in the Outdoors
Thanks to foresighted ancestors, most places in the world today have and will continue to have protected parklands and wilderness areas. People in North America have huge areas of open land and wilderness, as well as national, state, and county parks where outdoor sports of all kinds can be enjoyed. An ever-increasing number of nature-conscious people look forward to meeting the challenge of traveling in unfamiliar territory, striking out on their own explorations along little-used paths, or making their own way cross-country.
These people have discovered that they can have a good idea of what to expect in any geographical area by studying a well-developed map. To interpret and understand the map in the field, they can use a simple compass. They will be confident to leave numbered roads and well-marked trails and leave the GPS for the highways they are most suited for.
Experienced outdoor enthusiasts have no fear or uncertainty about traveling through strange territory—their ability to use their map and compass will get them safely there and back again.
Foresters, surveyors, engineers, prospectors, and service members all require thorough training in orienteering with a map and compass. Many organizations, such as the Virginia Search and Rescue Organization (www.vsrda.org), have Be Expert with Map & Compass on their required reading list so that members are always able to consult a map and compass in the wilderness. Hikers, hunters, mountain bikers, and horseback riders need to pay heed and learn to use that map and compass so that those wonderful dogs don't need to search for you!
If you hunt or fish, you will have done much traveling to your favorite hunting spot or trout stream by map and compass—or paid a guide who knows how to use them. In territory you know well from having traversed it again and again, the lay of the land and the different directions will have become part of your memory. In new territory, however, you will have to pore over maps and use your compass skills to find the best hunting ground or best-stocked stream.
Search-and-rescue teams are required to have excellent map and compass skills. (Courtesy of Virgina Search and Rescue Dog Association [VSRDA])
If you are a backpacker, your map and compass will give you a sense of complete independence and freedom of movement. How wonderful to “go where no man has gone before,” or at least to feel that way. Whenever you feel like breaking away from the trail, you can travel cross-country with confidence. You can explore your way to the hidden lake or mountain waterfall, knowing that your map, compass, and know-how will get you back to the trail. Take a deep breath and enjoy.
If you are an athlete interested in cross-country running, orienteering will add new spice and new dimensions to your pursuit. In addition to the mental and physical stamina involved in running, orienteering calls for mental exercise in using a map and compass to determine the route most suited to your style. If you are fleet of foot, maybe taking the longer but flatter trail around the mountain will get you to the control point the quickest. If you enjoy the challenge of clambering up a steep, unmarked hillside, you might prefer to go the shorter but more difficult route over the mountain. You choose your own route instead of following a designated trail by deciding which shortcuts you can handle.
If you happen to be a leader of a youth development organization, like the Boy Scouts or 4-H, or you're a camp counselor on a cross-country hike or maybe a teacher with pupils on a nature study field trip, you will readily recognize the need to know the proper use of a map and compass. Learning to orienteer combines science, math, and appreciation of the outdoors. Passing this vital skill on to the young people in your charge will help them get along safely and securely in the outdoors—a genuine way to build their self-esteem. Map study and compass use can be a great source of a number of interesting games, projects, and competitions, whether you are indoors or around a campfire.
If you are simply a vacationer in a state or national park or a Sunday stroller in the woods, you will quickly discover that knowing how to use a map and compass will increase the fun of your outdoor experience more than that annoying voice on the GPS.
Map and Compass for the Family
A relaxed hike in the woods or participation in a local orienteering event is the perfect outdoor activity for the whole family, an enjoyable and healthy leisure-time activity for all ages. Young children quickly take to orienteering, as it is a lot like a special treasure hunt. In fact, one company uses the treasure hunt format to teach orienteering skills. Learning to read a map is fun and can quickly teach children that symbols can be used as a quick way to convey ideas and represent all sorts of things. Using a map and compass puts your imagination to work with lifelong benefits.
Teenagers find the combination of mental and physical challenge of using a map and compass, and in the sport of orienteering particularly rewarding. It's not just testing and growing physical skills but deciding which route to take that helps decision-making skills evolve. Parents find relaxation in orienteering, as a mental break from work and household chores. Even the older generation can join in the wholesome fun of getting away from it all, where speed does not outweigh wisdom.
The vast majority of American families enjoy weekend outings and spend summer vacations together. Why not encourage a trip to the woods or parklands, instead of a trip to the shopping mall? Why not encourage physical activity with a hike in the woods and combine it with the cerebral exercise of finding your way with map and compass? Day trips or longer vacations are all the more exciting when you have been where no path goes … where you have discovered natural beauty the average visitor misses by staying on the worn trail.
Family orienteering is not just about taking a hike with a purpose—it is learning about nature and the world around us. It is one of the best ways to teach young and old to appreciate the environment in which they live. Get people to know and to love nature, and they will become determined to help save our natural resources.
Map and Compass Bringing People Together
People unfamiliar with map and compass sports, such as orienteering, believe it to be a solitary endeavor—one man running through the woods in search of red and white control points, with only a map and compass in hand.
(Courtesy of Quantico Orienteering Club)
Actually, it is fun to learn how to use a map and compass as a group. Even if you explore and test your skills alone (though it's best to begin with a partner), getting back together and discussing your route choices and what you saw often becomes a rowdy social event. You'll meet others with a passion for nature and can join various clubs.
There are orienteering clubs all around the world to join, if you want. Helping organize training sessions and race meets is a great way to interact with other like-minded people. As strong as individual competition is in the sport of orienteering, team events also attract many people to the sport. Faced with the numerous mental and physical challenges of navigating unfamiliar terrain, teammates and competitors alike form new friendships and strengthen old ones. https://orienteeringusa.org/ has many great resources, including a list of orienteering clubs.
Proof of the bonding that orienteering fosters can most easily be seen before and after organized events. The five-day orienteering championship in Sweden (Oringen) is held annually. In 2024 it drew almost 20,000 participants in 125 different classes from 43 countries, ages 5–90. That's participants, not spectators! Most stay in the campground near the event site, from families to elite competitors. They live in extremely close proximity for a week or two, sharing food, stories, and friendship. There's a “town square” for music and events—a true festival of nationalities, cultures, and ideas, tied together by a passion for the map and compass. There are some fun videos online to watch the action (for example, Google Oringen).
After an orienteering event at any level, or even a beginner's map and compass course, check out the attitude of the competitors. They may be tired, or perhaps even angry at themselves for picking a slower route, but typically they sit down and compare notes with others. Which way did you go? What was that like? What could I have done better? You may be competing with others, but everyone is there to improve their own skills, and comparing notes makes for new friendships and new knowledge.
Using the Map and Compass in Education
Learning to use a compass and to read maps of all kinds is a wonderful way to encourage people to get involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The goal of STEM education is to develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration, possibly leading to careers in these fields.
Even more directly, a good working knowledge of geography should be an important skill for every modern citizen. However, in 2023, in a National Geographic Roper poll of 18- to 24-year-olds across nine countries (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States), the United States placed second to last, only above Mexico, in geographic knowledge.
Repeatedly, newspaper articles revealed that an overwhelming number of Americans have little or no knowledge of geographic regions, even where wars are being fought. This fact was particularly unsettling because it applied not only to adults but to young students in the U.S. school system. Knowledge of the world around us is so important for politics, business, and being a human on this planet.
Indoor practice makes perfect? (Courtesy of Bull Run Mountain Conservancy)
Learning to use a map and compass, to orienteer, can be a key to resolving this problem. The sport of orienteering at its most basic, introductory level is a wonderful hands-on tool for teaching how to read a map, how to create a map, and what different symbols mean. Orienteering and mastering a compass can easily be used to learn about direction, the magnetic field, the relationship of geographical features to how they are utilized by mankind, and more. By getting out into nature, students can also learn to appreciate the environment. There are homeschooling groups that have found learning orienteering skills can be a great part of the curriculum, and working on these with a group of other students can be a fun activity.
In Scandinavia, orienteering is taught in schools, a wonderful way to get students mentally and physically involved in many disciplines, including geography, environmental studies, mathematics, and history, in a very direct way. Consider encouraging your local school system or your child's teacher to incorporate orienteering into the curriculum or as an after-school program. They'll say either “Yes” or “Get lost!”
The “Passion” of Orienteering
Learning how to use a map and compass can indeed provide all sorts of enjoyment of nature, of your friends and family, and of the competitive spirit. Mastery of the art of outdoor navigation also provides a real sense of satisfaction and self-esteem. There has always been a romantic fascination with people who could find their way through the wilderness and over hidden trails: the Native American, the pioneer scout, explorers, trackers, cowboys on cattle drives. There seems to be an almost mysterious power behind path finding and navigation.
In the old days, path finding was well worth admiration. It was based on a highly developed power of observation and memory—reading the signs of mountain ridges, rivers and vegetation, wind direction and cloud movements, animal tracking, the position of sun, moon, and stars.
Today, of course, it is much simpler. Turn on the Global Positioning System! Obey it, and you should eventually reach your destination. However, gain the knowledge of how to use a good map and a dependable compass, and you will have gained a lifelong skill, and possibly that innate sense of where you are on this planet.
What took old-timers a long time to learn, enthusiasts of today can learn in a matter of hours with this book. When you master the skill, it sticks. You will be able to feel safe on all your outdoor urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness journeys. You will be able to choose the best routes, and alternates when they become necessary. You will be encouraged to explore new places, new campsites, fishing lakes, and hunting grounds. And you may, if you choose, become involved in the exciting sport of orienteering.
Whichever route you choose, you'll be more prepared for the challenges ahead.
PART 2DISCOVERY: Fun with Maps Alone
To get the most out of the lessons in this book, please download a copy of the TRAINING MAP. It can easily be downloaded and printed on letter-sized paper from www.beexpertwithmapandcompass.com. A full-size version can also be downloaded or ordered from USGS Topo Maps (Ticonderoga Quadrangle, New York-Vermont, 7.5 minute series).
There are many ways to imagine looking down upon Earth from above. You've probably peered down through an airplane window and tried to figure out where you were; or you've fooled around on Google Earth (www.googleearth.com) and been fascinated as you've been able to zoom in closer and closer and get more and more detail.
Photos from the Space Shuttle are equally intriguing, as one can see shifting sands and the boot of Italy from so far away. It is also fun to imagine what birds see, especially hawks as they use the currents way up in the sky to glide seemingly effortlessly over our planet.
Imagine you are that hawk or are in an airplane or even on a magic carpet. It is a bright day, with unlimited visibility. The sky above is blue. Below, the ground spreads out like a multicolored quilt. First, everything is just a jumble, but soon you are able to make out details.
That straight ribbon down there, for example, could be a highway—Route 66, or whatever it happens to be. The wide, winding band must be a river. You can even make out a railroad track as two parallel lines—the rails. The smaller rectangles are rooftops, the blue spots are clearly swimming pools, and those brown and green diamonds are, obviously, baseball fields. The dark green masses must be forests. Things look different from what you are accustomed to, and yet you can recognize them.
What Is a Map?
If you took a picture of what you saw on your adventure in the sky and later printed it out, you would have a photographic “map” of sorts of the area over which you flew. There would be a lot of confusing details that would be hard to interpret, and there would be some distortion near the edges because of perspective. Nevertheless, it would be a map: a reduced representation of a portion of the surface of Earth.
Modern mapmakers use aerial and satellite photographs and then check them using surveying equipment from the ground. In the final version of the map, they simplify details into representative signs they call map symbols. They also flatten out the perspective so the map looks the way it would appear looking straight down on it so that all the distances are in the same proportion on the map as they are in the landscape.
How Were the Earliest Maps Made?
It wasn't very easy for the earliest mapmakers to get a good base for their maps. They couldn't even dream of being up in an airplane to get the bird's-eye view. According to historians in this field, some people today, including the Inuit tribes of the North and indigenous desert tribesmen, show an incredible natural ability to make map sketches showing relative locations and distances between points in an area known to them. Instead of using longitude and latitude lines and compass directions as we do, they usually use a landmark they are familiar with—a road, a shoreline, a ridge, or some other terrain feature—as their orienting baseline for such a map.
The oldest known maps are something like those sketches. The earliest maps were probably first etched in dirt with sticks to show prime hunting grounds. These early maps were very generalized, showing major trails, coastlines, mountain ridges, and possible settlements. The maps would have been greatly affected by the mapmaker's impressions. Ever notice how one member of your family remembers that intersection because that's where the auto parts store is, while another remembers it because of the nail salon?
