Video2015
How to take a compass bearing
Ordnance Survey
Sets out the three-step procedure for transferring a bearing between map and compass, and why the housing must be turned to the map's grid lines rather than to north.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Outdoors, Navigation & Survival · Navigation
Foundations & Overviews
A topic within Navigation, itself one of 9 topics in that field and part of Outdoors, Navigation & Survival.
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How to take a compass bearing
Ordnance Survey · 2015
Sets out the three-step procedure for transferring a bearing between map and compass, and why the housing must be turned to the map's grid lines…
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Primary sources and full treatments.
The American Practical Navigator
Nathaniel Bowditch · 1802
The standing reference on celestial and practical navigation — corrected and reissued by the US government for over two centuries, and public domain…
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Video2015
Choosing the right map
Ordnance Survey
Explains what scale actually costs you: the 1:25,000 sheet shows field boundaries and walls you can navigate by, while 1:50,000 covers ground faster and loses exactly those features.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Video2015
Understanding contour lines
Ordnance Survey
Explains that contour spacing is the only thing on a map that tells you steepness, so reading the gaps rather than the lines is what lets you judge a route before walking it.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Talk2019
The Why and How of Natural Navigation
Tristan Gooley (TEDx Talks)
Argues that sun, wind, plants and puddles carry enough directional information to navigate without instruments, and that the skill is noticing rather than memorising.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1802
The American Practical Navigator
Nathaniel Bowditch
The standing reference on celestial and practical navigation — corrected and reissued by the US government for over two centuries, and public domain throughout.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026FreeAdvanced