Introduction

Knowing where you are and how to reach where you need to go becomes increasingly important when normal routes, familiar landmarks, road access, or electronic services are disrupted. A survival situation may require you to get home, leave an area, reach a safer location, change routes around an obstacle, or continue traveling through unfamiliar terrain.

Effective navigation combines knowledge and skills with the information and tools available to you. Maps provide a broader view of the surrounding area and possible routes. A compass helps establish and maintain direction. Terrain features and landmarks help you understand your position as you travel. GPS devices and smartphones provide additional location and route information, while offline maps and backup power help maintain electronic navigation when cellular service or normal charging options are unavailable.

The navigation capability built into a survival kit should reflect where the kit may be used, the distances you may need to travel, the environment, likely routes and alternate routes, and the people who may rely on it. The equipment also needs to be supported by the skills required to determine your location, plan a route, follow that route, and recognize when conditions require a change.

This article examines how to determine your current location, build the navigation system carried in your survival kit, plan your route, and navigate that route as conditions change. The goal is to develop navigation capability that helps you orient, plan, and navigate when you need to move from where you are to where you need to go.

Start Here

Navigation capability gives you the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to determine where you are, identify where you need to go, plan a route, and navigate that route as conditions change.

For a survival kit, that capability comes from combining navigation skills with appropriate resources such as maps, a compass, terrain and landmark awareness, GPS or smartphone navigation, offline maps, and backup power. What you carry should reflect the role of the kit, the areas where it may be used, and the distances and conditions you may encounter.

Article Outline

• Know Where You Are
• Build Your Navigation System
• Plan Your Route
• Navigate Your Route
• Key Takeaways
• Conclusion

What This Article Covers

The sections ahead examine how to establish your location, develop and adjust a route, navigate using both traditional and electronic methods, and assemble the equipment needed to support those skills. They also address matching navigation resources to different survival kit roles and developing the skills required to use those resources effectively.

How to Use This Article

Work through the sections in order to build your navigation capability, or use the Jump To links below to go directly to the subject you need. Use the equipment guidance to evaluate what belongs in your survival kit, then practice the navigation skills that make those tools useful.

Jump To

Use the links below to move directly to any major section of this article.

• Know Where You Are
• Build Your Navigation System
• Plan Your Route
• Navigate Your Route
• Key Takeaways
• Conclusion

Know Where You Are

Before you can decide how to reach your destination, you need to establish where you are. Your location provides the starting point for understanding the surrounding area and eventually determining how to travel from your current position to where you need to go.

Your surroundings provide much of the information needed to begin establishing that position. Road signs, intersections, trail markers, buildings, waterways, ridgelines, towers, and other recognizable features help identify where you are and provide reference points that can be compared with available navigation information.

As you evaluate your surroundings, pay attention to the relationship between different features rather than relying on a single landmark. A road intersection beside a waterway, a ridgeline in a particular direction, or several recognizable features together can provide a stronger indication of your location than one feature by itself.

Location awareness should continue after you begin traveling. Keeping track of where you are, where you have been, and the recognizable features you pass helps maintain your position as you move. This also makes it easier to recognize when your actual location begins to differ from where you expected to be.

The maps, compass, electronic navigation, and other resources used to establish and maintain your location are part of the navigation system you carry. Building that system is the next step.

Build Your Navigation System

Once you understand the importance of maintaining awareness of your location, the next step is building the system that supports navigation. A survival kit navigation system combines maps, a compass, electronic navigation, backup power, and the skills needed to use those resources together.

Maps

Maps provide the geographic information needed to understand the area around you. They show roads, trails, waterways, terrain features, communities, boundaries, and other information that helps you establish your location and evaluate possible routes.

Choose maps that cover the areas where the survival kit is likely to be used. Coverage should extend beyond a single expected route so you have information available when you need to change direction, use an alternate route, or travel toward a different destination.

Paper maps provide navigation information without depending on batteries, cellular service, or electronic equipment. Protect them from water and physical damage so they remain usable when needed.

Compass

A compass provides a consistent directional reference and works with a map to help you orient yourself to the surrounding area. It also supports maintaining a direction of travel when roads, trails, landmarks, or other obvious references are limited.

The compass you carry should be suitable for practical navigation and compatible with the type of maps you intend to use. Carrying one provides little value without the skills to orient a map, determine direction, and use the compass as part of the navigation process.

GPS and Smartphone Navigation

GPS units and smartphones add electronic location and mapping resources to the navigation system. Depending on the device and software, they may display your position, coordinates, maps, routes, distances, terrain information, and other useful navigation data.

Offline maps should be downloaded before they are needed. Stored maps allow compatible devices to continue providing map information when cellular or data service is unavailable. The maps should cover both expected travel areas and enough surrounding territory to support alternate routes or changes in destination.

Backup Power

Electronic navigation depends on available power, making power management part of the navigation system. Charging cables and portable backup power should match the devices carried in the kit and provide enough additional operating time for the kit's intended role.

Battery life can also be extended by managing screen use, wireless connections, and other unnecessary power demands. When electronic navigation may be needed for an extended period, conserving available power becomes increasingly important.

Build in Redundancy

A navigation system should provide more than one way to obtain the information needed to navigate. Damage, loss, depleted batteries, or unavailable electronic services can remove an individual navigation resource from use.

Combining paper maps, a compass, electronic navigation, and the ability to navigate using terrain and landmarks provides multiple ways to maintain navigation capability. The exact combination depends on the survival kit, environment, expected travel, and available space and weight.

Match the Navigation System to the Kit

The role of the survival kit determines how much navigation capability it needs to carry. An EDC Kit may use compact resources appropriate for everyday travel and likely emergencies, while a Get Home Bag needs navigation resources that support primary and alternate routes home.

A Bug Out Bag should support evacuation routes, alternate routes, and possible changes in destination. An I'm Never Coming Home (INCH) Kit requires broader geographic coverage for extended movement and changing destinations. A Vehicle Kit should support road travel while also providing navigation resources that remain useful if travel must continue on foot.

Build the Skills to Use the System

Navigation equipment becomes useful capability through the skills required to use it. Practice should include reading and orienting maps, recognizing terrain and landmarks, using a compass, working with coordinates, and operating the GPS or smartphone navigation carried in the kit.

Practice should also include using offline maps and navigating without cellular service. Working with the complete navigation system under different conditions develops familiarity with both the equipment and the information it provides.

With the navigation system established, the next step is using those resources to plan your route.

Plan Your Route

With your navigation system established, you can use those resources to determine how to travel from your current location to your destination. Route planning helps you understand the distance, direction, terrain, obstacles, and other conditions you may encounter before you begin moving.

Begin by locating your current position and destination on the map and examining the area between them. Roads, trails, waterways, ridgelines, valleys, elevation changes, communities, and other features help show what different routes involve. Electronic maps and navigation tools may provide additional information that helps you compare those options.

As you compare possible routes, consider more than distance alone. A shorter route may involve steep terrain, difficult water crossings, dense vegetation, damaged infrastructure, restricted areas, or other obstacles. Available daylight, weather, physical demands, and the capabilities of the people traveling with you also affect which route is practical.

Along the selected route, identify recognizable features that will help you monitor your progress. Intersections, trail junctions, waterways, ridgelines, buildings, towers, and other prominent features provide reference points that can help confirm your location. Important turns and other decision points should also be identified before you reach them.

Conditions may prevent you from following the route exactly as planned, so identify alternate routes when possible. Flooding, road closures, damaged bridges, changing weather, blocked trails, or other unexpected conditions may require a different way forward. Having alternatives already identified reduces the amount of route planning required after conditions change.

A route plan gives you a deliberate way to begin traveling while leaving room to adapt. Once movement begins, the next task is to use your navigation system, surrounding terrain, and planned reference points to navigate your route.

Navigate Your Route

Once you begin traveling, the route plan becomes a guide for maintaining direction, tracking progress, and confirming that you remain where you expect to be. Effective navigation requires continuing to compare the planned route with the information provided by your navigation system and the terrain around you.

As you move, keep the map oriented to the surrounding terrain and use your compass, landmarks, and other recognizable features to maintain direction. Roads, trails, waterways, ridgelines, valleys, and other terrain features provide references that help connect your position on the map with what you see around you.

Along the route, use the reference points and decision points identified during planning to confirm your progress. Intersections, trail junctions, stream crossings, prominent terrain features, buildings, towers, and other recognizable locations help show whether your actual movement continues to match the planned route.

When GPS or smartphone navigation is part of your system, use it to provide additional information about your location and progress. Offline maps maintain access to stored map information when cellular or data service is unavailable. Compare electronic information with your maps, compass, terrain, and landmarks so the different parts of the navigation system continue working together.

Throughout the trip, confirm your location at regular intervals and after important turns, intersections, obstacles, or route changes. Frequent checks help you recognize a navigation error while the difference between your expected and actual position is still small.

If the surroundings stop matching the route or your position becomes uncertain, stop and establish your location before continuing. Compare the available navigation information, determine where you are, and decide whether to return to the planned route or use an alternate route. This continuing process of checking and adjusting keeps navigation deliberate as conditions change.

Key Takeaways

• Establish your current location before planning your route.
• Build your navigation system with maps, a compass, electronic navigation, offline maps, backup power, and the skills needed to use them.
• Choose navigation resources that match the role of your survival kit and the areas where it may be used.
• Evaluate distance, terrain, obstacles, conditions, and alternate routes when planning how to reach your destination.
• Use maps, a compass, terrain features, landmarks, and electronic navigation together as appropriate while traveling.
• Regularly confirm your location and progress so you can identify navigation errors and changing conditions early.
• Practice with the navigation equipment in your survival kit so you can use it effectively when needed.

Conclusion

Building navigation capability into a survival kit gives you the resources and skills needed to understand where you are, determine where you need to go, and travel toward that destination. That capability begins with location awareness and develops through a navigation system built around appropriate maps, a compass, electronic navigation, backup power, and practical navigation skills.

The role of the kit determines the navigation resources it should carry. An EDC Kit supports different travel needs than a Get Home Bag, Bug Out Bag, I'm Never Coming Home (INCH) Kit, or Vehicle Kit. Matching those resources to the kit, expected travel area, and possible conditions creates a navigation system suited to the situations in which it may be used.

Equipment alone does not complete the system. Navigation skills need to be practiced so you can orient yourself, plan a practical route, follow that route, recognize when conditions have changed, and adjust your movement when necessary.

Together, location awareness, navigation equipment, route planning, and practical skills build the capability to orient, plan, and navigate when you need to move from where you are to where you need to go.