Navigation

Navigation Course Information

Course will be located at my gym Freeman’s Fitness - Unit 2/113 Hunter St Hornsby for the morning before moving into the surrounding bush area for the afternoon.

The aim of this course is to give you a solid foundation for navigating using topographic maps. Mapping and navigation is a skill and like any skill requires a bit of practice before it becomes something that you feel confident with.

The expectation is that by the end of the day you will have a solid understanding of all the concepts required to navigate in the bush using topographic maps. Having an understanding doesn’t mean you will feel completely confident but after some practice you will begin to build your skill level.

This course is aimed to teach you from the foundational level so no prior experience is required. Whilst we will spend time outdoor practicing navigation we will be focusing on the skills and not covering too much ground so the fitness level required is minimal. The aim will be to only be walking a few kilometres at most through mostly flat terrain.

If you do have any health issues that you are concerned about please let me know before so I can take this into account.

During the course we will cover the fundamentals of navigation and do some practice in the bush. I will leave you with some navigation exercises that you can do in your own time in the following months to allow you to apply your skills and practice so you have some repetition of the basics.

To enable you to ask questions before and after the course I have set up a facebook group that you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3413749018913457

Don’t be worried if you don’t ‘get it’ all straight away or if you feel completely lost so to speak! Navigation takes a bit of time and practice to really understand and even after many years I still feel like there are things to learn.

Before the day:

I have 9 short videos giving a very brief overview of all of the topics we will cover on the day. Each video is designed to give a brief introduction to get some of the key concepts and terminology on your mind before we cover it again during the course.
Please watch these if you can as it will give you a bit of the foundations
Whilst you do watch these, if you have questions feel free to write them in the group, write them down to bring along or send to me so that if they are not covered in the course I can make sure you get an answer to them
Ideally if you don’t already have a compass it would be good to purchase one as it is essential for navigating. I will have some you can use on the day but if you are planning to go outdoors and navigate then having your own is much better
Install avenza maps and download the maps we will use on the day, don’t worry if you can’t get it to work I can show you on the day
If you don’t do anything of this and just turn up on the day that’s fine too so don’t stress if you don’t get it all done, it will just be far easier for you if you take the time to prepare a little beforehand if you can

On the day:

The overall plan will be:
- 8-12 – go through course material in the classroom setting
- 12-1230 – lunch break
- 1230-4 or 5 – afternoon outside putting all the skills to use

To bring on the day
- Comfortable warm clothing, we will be in the gym which isn’t usually all that warm and then outside in the cold
- Paper and pen or laptop if you prefer for note taking
- Mobile phone with avenza installed – more on that below
- Backpack for afternoon session
- Compass if you have one – more on this below
- Lunch and snacks
- Rain gear if the day is looking like rain forecast – we will still go ahead and just alter things a bit if necessary
- I will carry all other essential outdoor gear like first aid, plb etc but feel free to bring if you want

Afterwards:

Find some time to work through some of the practice exercises
You can post up your results in the group from the practice exercises that you have done for some feedback
Ask any questions you have thought about since the course finished
Re-enforce the skills frequently at first
Once you feel confident then aim to re-visit every 6 months or so at least to retain the skill over time

Compass

If you are going to get a compass then make sure to get one that is suitable. A cheap compass is worthless if it breaks on you and a lot of cheap compasses are not made for our hemisphere as they are produced in the north! Buy once and get a good one.

I would recommend something like this: https://www.wildearth.com.au/buy/silva-ranger-s-ms/SV37471

If you are unsure you can ask me in the group about different ones or just wait until the course and buy one later If you are not keen to get something yet.

Avenza maps

https://www.avenza.com/avenza-maps/
Can be downloaded for iPhone or android

Link for videos to watch

Video 1 – Intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPVbgWEsnTs

Video 2 – Maps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7QZiNSDp3Q

Video 3 – GPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNX3Ihqy_NA

Video 4 – Measuring distances

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glnku2t73Dc

Video 5 – Grid Coordinates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yKE_s7Efk

Video 6 – Contours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQaVd9iWNr0

Video 7 – Compass and bearings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlpwUcOnHcU

Video 8 – Compass and bearings part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgvJ6fIX51c

Video 9 – End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-fvEcOg5sM

Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3413749018913457

Payments

Payment can be made by card here: https://buy.stripe.com/8wMcN03uBcpcc1y144

Or by direct debit

Account: Daniel Freeman
BSB: 062 264
Acc Number: 1003 0490

My contact details

Daniel Freeman
[email protected]
Phone 0422 866 874

If you have any questions please send me an email or give me a call!