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In its simplest form, a GPS receiver calculates your exact location based on range signals it receives from various satellites in the space. But when you are out in the wilderness, knowing your current position alone is not adequate, what is just as important is to know how to get where you have to be. Mostly, simple GPS receivers, apart from measuring the position, would also measure additional information like speed and time. Depending on how sophisticated a GPS unit is, you can get various other details such as bearing and distance to your destination, an accurate compass direction, height above sea level as well as almanac information such as sunrise & sunset timings.
Of numerous details that a GPS receiver is capable of providing, what you actually need to know is to be handy with your unit. Once you know how to use it, you can make an effective and intelligent use of your GPS unit. It is of key importance to know how to store the coordinates into your GPS receiver, which has a two-fold benefit:
- First, by storing the coordinates of your current location you can always find your way back to where you started from.
- Second, you can store the coordinates of your destination and the GPS unit would continuously provide you with a bearing and distance of your destination as you move along the direction of the bearing. Most GPS units label this feature as "Go to".
The current location in most receivers can be stored by simple depression of a single key, which is usually labeled as ‘Mark'. A second method of storing the coordinates of a position is by manually entering the latitude and longitude of a location as a waypoint. Once the waypoints are entered, a route can be created by using two or more waypoints. A GPS receiver would then calculate the bearing and distance of the second waypoint from the first in a route. Following the bearing, by an inbuilt compass in GPS unit or an external magnetic compass, would then lead the user to the destination.
As you go along a route, guided by your GPS receiver, it is a wise idea to store your location coordinates at regular intervals especially while you are in the wilderness. This would be useful in case you need to trace back your track exactly. It is much easier to use the "Go to" feature, then following your breadcrumb trail.
So before you head out for your next excursion, just know:
- The coordinates of the destination
- How to enter a waypoint
- How to follow a bearing and/or use the "Go to" feature
Now go learn these basic steps of GPS navigation and then hit that trail and start exploring! Just don't forget to bring along extra batteries!