Priory Navigation Activity

Introduction: 

Field navigation skills are very important skills that are required to be an effective geographer in the field.  If there is data to be observed and collected in the field, there is a chance that it may be remotely located.  Driving straight to a point of interest is not always how it works, being able to navigate in the field is an essential skill.  In this lab, the class was to put their navigation skills to the test by finding points in the woods that were placed by Dr. Hupy.  The class was to use GPS and a map to locate the points, then go back out using just a compass and a map.

Methods:

The class met at the Priory on a dreary Saturday the first weekend of November to do some field navigation.  The Priory is located just south of highway 94 on the south side of Eau Claire.  It is a heavily wooded piece of land owned by the University that is ideal for learning how to navigate in the field.  When people started to arrive, they broke off into their groups and plotted their points on the print out maps that were given to them.  These points were plotted using using coordinates for the GPS activity and the UTM grid for the compass activity.  Each group was given five points on a course to plot.  Once the points were plotted, GPS units were handed out and the groups connected their GPS to their IOS devices and BadElf app.  The BadElf app had to be set to UTM to be the same as the map.  Once this was done, groups were ready to go out into the field and find the points.  The group first decided to go to a known point that was near where the first point was.  This was at the corner of the building near the woods, the group then entered the woods walking to where the first point was.  Once near the point, the GPS was used to find the current location, this location was then used to reference what direction the point was in, the compass was then used to head the appropriate direction.  This was the method used to find all points in the course with a GPS.

Floppy Wet Map

Brian with a Point

Mark with a Point

Me with a Point

Anna with a Point

After the group found all the points, the class reconvened to prepare for the compass navigation.  To prepare, the points had to be plotted on the map with the grid. The points were then connected using a straight edge.  The next step was to get the bearing from one point to the next, for this, the map was orientated so that north was north and the compass was placed on the map and also orientated north.  the direction the line was going was the bearing that should be walked from point to point.  This number was written down for each line. Before the group began to find the points with a compass, a known location was picked out (corner or building) and a bearing was found, this is how the compass activity was started.

Finding a bearing on the map 

As well as finding the points with a compass, the distance between the points was also found during this activity.  To do this, a 100 meter pace count was found and recorded (62 paces per 50m for the group) .  These numbers were recorded and used to calculate the distance between the points.

Results:

Our group got off to a rocky start,  we were looking for the first point when a bowhunter came up to us and told us we were on private property,  we believe the property lines may have changed and one of our points was on the part that was no longer the Universities, or the hunter was trespassing.  After this dilemma, our group successfully navigated to the remaining 4 points in our course.  The following image is the  coordinates given by our professor (top) and the coordinates of the points taken from the GPS when our group found them.

Given and Actual Coordinates

The following map shows the track log from the GPS activity.  The area in the bottom left is when our group was looking for the 5th point and ran into the hunter, we then went around by the building and fount the rest of our points.

GPS Route

The following map shows the route when finding the points with a compass.  This shows that the track goes much more directly towards each point.  Our group found it much easier to use a compass and bearing to find a point.  We doubted the method at first, but when we walked straight into our points, we were thrilled!

Compass Route

The following map shows the two routes together.  It can been seen that the blue route (GPS) involves much more wandering to find each point.  We often veered in the wrong direction for a while before we realized it.

Combined Routes

Conclusion:

This lab was great for learning how to navigate the woods.  I have personally been hunting since I was 12 and have spent lots of time in the woods, but this lab taught me a lot about navigating.  I enjoyed the compass method but felt that it will only work if navigating a small area.  Traveling a slightly wrong bearing for a small distance is not a big deal but if trying to navigate a long distance by a bearing, being off a small amount can make you completely miss the target.  If you are trying to navigate a large expanse of woods and get lost using the compass method, it will be very hard to get back on track.  The GPS method of navigation might not be quite as efficient, but is much more effective in the long run.  I think a combination of the two would be the most effective on finding points.