Now you have the skills and knowledge to read and understand a map, the next step is to learn how to orientate your map to the land so that you can use it to navigate. One of the best ways to orientate your map is with a compass...
Now you have the skills and knowledge to read and understand a map, the next step is to learn how to orientate your map to the land so that you can use it to navigate. One of the best ways to orientate your map is with a compass. The picture below shows a compass, explaining its various features.
1 -The base plate - The mounting of the compass, with a ruler for measuring scale.
2 - The compass housing - Contains the magnetic needle and has the points of the compass printed on a circular, rotating bezel.
3 - The compass needle - Floats on liquid so it can rotate freely, the red end should always point to magnetic north.
4 - Orienting lines - Fixed within the compass housing and designed to be aligned with the eastings on a map. On some compasses half the lines are coloured red to indicate north.
5 - Orienting arrow - Fixed within the compass housing, aligned to north on the housing.
6 - The index line - Fixed within the outer edge of the compass housing as an extension of the direction of travel arrow. It marks the bearing you set by rotating the compass housing.
7 - The direction of travel arrow - Shows the direction that you want to travel along or the bearing you are taking. It is fixed parallel to the sides of the base plate.
8 - Compass scale - Displayed along the edge of the base plate so you can measure distances on maps.
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Great video. I do find it a bit hard to understand what readings he's adding together for the magnetic declination? Is he adding the 1°42' with the 09' or the 1°32' with the '09? or is he subtracting the '09 from one of those?