Triangulation is a method you can use to establish your approximate location on the map.  The catch is that in order to use triangulation you need to be able to see one - and hopefully two or more - known features (and you need to be able to find those features on your map).  Typical features that we use are: radio towers, fire towers, summits of mountains, tangents of islands, points of land in a lake.

 

Establishing a Line of Position (LOP)

1. Point the compass direction of travel arrow at the known feature (KF).

2. While holding the compass base plate steady, rotate the compass housing until north etched on the housing matches up with the magnetic needle ("put Red Fred in the Shed").

3. Now, read your magnetic bearing (indicated by the line at the base of the direction of travel arrow).

4. Subtract (assuming you're in Eastern  North America) the declination from the magnetic bearing, and rotate the compass housing accordingly.

5. Disregarding the magnetic needle, lay the compass on the map; place the front side corner of the base plate on your KF.

6. Rotate the entire compass, pivoting around that KF, until the north orienting arrow on the compass housing (neither the needle nor the direction of travel arrow) points straight to the top of the map.  Draw a line from the KF along the side of the compass base plate; extend this line using a long straight edge.

7. You are somewhere along this line.

 

Triangulation with Two or More KF's

     In an ideal world, you have two KF's and their LOP's relative to you are about 90-degrees apart.  (As that 90-degree figure approaches either 0-degrees or 180-degrees, your two-KF triangulation becomes less accurate.)  To use two KF's, simply establish and draw the two LOP's... your approximate location is where the two lines cross.

     In an even more ideal world, you have three KF's. When you plot your three LOPs, you will find the lines intersect in such a way that they form a little triangle; your approximate location is in the middle of that triangle.

 

While navigating sometimes it is important to estimate the distance that has been traveled.

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