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Practical Skills

Bearings, Triangulation, and Finding Your Position

Ages 12–16 25 min read Advanced

You can see a mountain to the east and a radio tower to the south. You know where both are on the map. With two bearings and some simple geometry, you can work out exactly where you are. This is triangulation — and it's been used by navigators for centuries.

Taking a Bearing

A bearing is a direction measured in degrees from north (0°/360°), clockwise.

  • North: 0° (or 360°)
  • East: 90°
  • South: 180°
  • West: 270°

Taking a Bearing to a Feature

  1. Hold the compass flat. Point the direction-of-travel arrow at the feature.
  2. Rotate the bezel until the red needle sits in the orienting arrow.
  3. Read the bearing at the direction-of-travel line.

Triangulation: Finding Where You Are

  1. Identify two (ideally three) features you can see AND find on the map (hilltops, towers, distinctive buildings).
  2. Take a bearing to each feature.
  3. Calculate the back bearing for each: add 180° (or subtract 180° if over 180°). This is the bearing FROM the feature TO you.
  4. On the map, draw a line from each feature along its back bearing.
  5. Where the lines cross = your position.

Three bearings are better than two — the three lines form a small triangle (called a "cocked hat"), and you're inside it.

When to Use These Skills

  • Bushwalking in unfamiliar terrain
  • Emergency situations when phone/GPS fails
  • Orienteering as a sport
  • General awareness of your surroundings

GPS vs Compass

GPS is more convenient and more precise. But:

  • GPS needs batteries and satellite signal
  • GPS can fail in dense forest, canyons, or bad weather
  • Compass skills build spatial awareness that GPS doesn't

The ideal approach: use GPS as your primary tool, with map-and-compass skills as backup. Never rely entirely on one system.

Tonight's Question

"If your phone died in the bush, could you find your way home using only a map and compass? What skills would you need?"

Triangulation Practice

  1. Go to an open area with visible landmarks (a park with views of buildings, hills, or towers).
  2. Take bearings to two or three identifiable features.
  3. On a map, draw the back bearings from those features.
  4. Where the lines cross should be approximately where you're standing.
  5. Check with your phone GPS. How accurate was your triangulation?

Go Further

  • Sport: Try orienteering — a sport where you navigate between checkpoints using only a map and compass. Orienteering Australia lists events.
  • Research: How did early explorers navigate without GPS? (Celestial navigation, dead reckoning, landmarks.)
  • Book: The Lost Art of Finding Our Way by John Edward Huth (2013).
  • Challenge: Navigate a 5km bushwalk using only a paper map and compass. No phone allowed.

What We Simplified

  • Triangulation requires visible, identifiable features. In dense forest or flat terrain, it may be impossible to see landmarks.
  • Accuracy depends on skill. A 5° error in bearing can mean hundreds of metres off position over distance.
  • Modern GPS is extremely reliable. Complete failure is rare. These skills are a valuable backup rather than a primary tool for most people.

Sources

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