Orienteering compass course

[BartHumphries]

So I've been working on putting together a compass course. I'm looking at two different "100 foot rope laid out along East-West axis, starting at the center origin pointing to the East with sections marked off in 5 foot increments" courses. I wanted an "easy" way to figure out how correct they were, so I put together the following Excel sheet. I'll just past the cell references, then the formulas in each cell.

 

A1

degrees to point, using orienteering degrees (0 at the North, proceeding clockwise, 90 at the East, 180 at the South, 270 to the West)

 

B1

feet to travel

 

C1

the orienteering degrees changed into "regular" degrees,(0 at the East, proceeding counter-clockwise, 90 at the North, etc.) with the following formula:

=IF(A1

[BDPT00]

I'd suggest changing the wording. None of what you're doing has anything at all to do with "orienteering."

BDPT00

[kenk]

I wonder how many troops are providing lists of bearings & distances and have the Scouts just walk the course? The requirement calls for use of a map & compass. How does a map come in to play using a list of bearings & distances?

 

If folks googled "orienteering" they'd find out that it is a popular sport that involves handing the participant a map on which a series of "control points" have been marked. The participant must find the control points IN ORDER (1, 2, 3, ...) using the map and a compass. Map reading skills tend to be more important than the use of the compass since they'll typically need to walk around stuff rather than walk in a straight bearing line.

 

This is so much more like real life use of a map! In real use we aren't given bearings and distances, but rather we know we need to get from where we are to "there". We can use a compass to guide us, but we also rely on land features.

[Stosh]

BSA used to have this compass game as part of it's literature. You can still pick up the cards and scorepads on E-Bay.

 

Stosh

[BartHumphries]

If folks googled "orienteering" they'd find out that it is a popular sport that involves handing the participant a map on which a series of "control points" have been marked.

It's basically a very very small orienteering course where if you actually gave a map with control points on it, there'd just be a big black dot on the map as the control points all bled together.

 

Things like this are designed for youth who have never handled a compass before and haven't the foggiest idea how declination might throw off the readings they're taking from the "North-South lines" on the map. You quickly explain these things to them then have the Scouts actually go take bearings and step off distances in a small controlled environment where they can learn by doing (and any mistakes made will only put them off course by 20-30 feet instead of a mile or more off course).

 

Once they've demonstrated proficiency with the tiny stuff, you're ready to turn them loose on the mile-long course.

[BDPT00]

"It's basically a very very small orienteering course"

 

The point was that using a compass on a football field isn't orienteering. Find a different word (try "compass course").

BDPT00

[jrdalys]

I'm no orienteering expert, but I walked through a 'Scout-O' (a special Scout orienteering event put on by a Portland Oregon area Orienteering club) with some cubs several weeks ago.

 

The instructions we got (from a very experienced Orienteering instructor who also teaches wilderness survival) led me to understand that the maps published for orienteering 'events' use MAGNETIC north, and not true north. He made a point of explaining that to us so that we'd understand the difference between the Orienteering sport and the use of USGS maps while hiking etc.

[BDPT00]

That's correct. All one generally needs a compass for while orienteering is to orient the map. A thumb compass will do just fine.

BDPT00

[hiker67]

Orienteering USA may have resources that may be useful, including a directory of permanent courses:

 

http://orienteeringusa.org

 

Other links are at:

 

http://www.mdc.net/~dbrier/yawgoog/links/campcraft.html#orient