Map, compass and GPS together, in a nut shell

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How do you use your Map, Compass and GPS together?

TraditionalMountaineering is organized in Oregon, USA, to provide free basic to advanced information and instruction on the World Wide Web about mountain climbing safety skills and gear, off trail hiking and lightweight backpacking, illustrated through actual mountaineering adventures.

TraditionalMountaineering is founded on the premise that "He who knows naught, knows not that he knows naught", that exploring the hills and summitting peaks have dangers that are hidden to the un-informed and that these inherent risks can be in part identified and mitigated by information, training, interesting gear and knowledge gained through the experiences of others.

Many folks learned to navigate with map and compass as children from their parents or from the Scouts. There have been many changes just in the last few years. The advent of the $100 GPS receiver is just one innovation. The newer hand held GPS receivers are accurate to within 4.1 meters!

Navigation starts with knowing where you are in relation to somewhere else. Navigation starts with a paper map, not with a compass. It does little good to know which way is generally North, when you do not know what is North of you. The basic map for land navigation in the United States is the USGS 1:24,000 Quad map available for about $6.00. These "Topo" maps are accurate to one 60th of an inch on the map.

Map Tech's Terrain Navigator and National Geographic's TOPO computerized maps are based on the USGS Quads. These simple $99. computer programs work with a linkable GPS. They can input exact Waypoints clicked on the (2:1 scaleable) map directly into the cabled GPS at your computer. GPS Waypoints clicked in the field and exact tracks from the field, can be downloaded to the USGS Quad topo in a heartbeat. Waypoints and Tracks can be stored in the computer program (do not store Waypoints and Tracks on your GPS) and printed on letter-sized paper for use as needed in the field.

The Map Tech and National Geographic Topo USGS Quad 1:24,000 programs for Oregon costs the same $99 as the accessory $99 Garmin Topo data disks required for use in their GPS map models. The 1:24,000 map data for Oregon requires 8 CDs; the Garmin Topo (at a stripped 1:100,000) covers the 10 Western States on just 1 CD. Maps at 1:100,000 are just not detailed enough for real backcountry travel and on and off trail exploration and peak bagging.

You need to be able to save and to communicate the location of points on the map other than by pointing to a spot. The easiest way to do this is by naming coordinates on a grid (say, the intersection of Highway 20 and 27th Street). One such grid is the Latitude and Longitude Grid used by Lewis and Clark, by sailors and by pilots for long distance travel. Another is the Public Land Survey Grid providing metes and bounds to identify ownership of plots of land. The Public Land Survey Grid is not referenced by GPS receivers.

The most useful grid in modern backcountry land navigation is the Universal Transverse Mercator Grid (UTM). The UTM Grid is imprinted (or can be user completed with pencil and yardstick) on all USGS Quad Maps, enabling one to pinpoint and communicate easily, a location accurately to a few yards. The GPS receiver will give you your location in UTM Coordinates, of little use if you do not have a map imprinted with the UTM Grid. Computerized map programs will display and print the UTM grid.

All topo maps today are drawn to Geographic North. Magnetic North declination decreases one degree every twelve years in Oregon. You must adjust your compass and your GPS to True North. One degree of declination error is 92 feet in one mile; 17 degrees error is 1,564 feet in a mile.

The modern handheld baseplate compass has an adjustable declination feature that does away with mental calculations to correct the Magnetic bearing to a True bearing. The $30 Suunto M3D Leader Compass has this feature. The modern base plate compass also acts as a protractor for drawing bearings (given by the GPS or located) on the map. The magnetic declination in Bend is 17 degrees, growing smaller by one degree every 12 years. If you do not take the difference between Magnetic North and True North into consideration, you could be off one third of a mile for each mile you walk. Don't even give your old compass to your children.

GPS receivers sold recently, can simultaneously receive and process up to 12 satellite signals. They are accurate to a statistical 4.1 meters. They are often spot on. They can provide “distance to go” to a waypoint in feet for the last tenth of a mile. Many are WAAS enabled, giving greater accuracy in some parts of the country. (WAAS is not very effective in the Pacific Northwest and can be turned off to save battery reserves.)

Current GPS receivers give constant accurate altitude readings. It is not necessary to pay hundreds of dollars more for GPS receivers with barometric altimeters and electronic compasses.

The new Garmin "H" High Sensitivity receivers, reportedly equal or better the speed, accuracy and sensitivity of the most expensive GPS models sold today.

Garmin’s yellow eTrex H costs about $100.. I use the eTrex Legend for car travel. (I do not need the H antenna). The e Trex Legend has base road maps installed and a few more conveniences, cost today $160 (including the computer cable which works for all models). The Garmin Geko 2 is the simplest and costs about $150. I use the little Geko most of the time. With a good view of the satellites, all three models are equally accurate! All three work with your computer topo map program.

Map, Compass and GPS must be programmed to work together. Start with a USGS Quad map of your area of interest (or National Geographic Topo equivalent). If necessary, add the UTM Grid in pencil using the blue tick marks (choose UTM grid). Next, adjust the Suunto M3D Adjustable Baseplate Compass to read in True not Magnetic bearings (off 17 degrees E in Oregon). Next, change the set-up of your GPS to provide True bearings and UTM coordinates using the Datum of your map, NAD 27 for our Quad maps. If you do not match the GPS Datum to the Map, you may be off point up to a couple of hundred meters (yards).

The World Wide Web game of Geocaching is a family sport that can hone your skills in the use of Map, Compass and GPS (if you progress beyond the Cache and Dash crowd). Go to www.TraditionalMountaineering.org to see photos and descriptions of interesting and advanced Geocaching in Central Oregon.
Copyright© 2003-2008 by Robert Speik. All Rights Reserved.

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