Please don't call me a caveman, but

[Martinjmpr]

I don't know about longitude, but if you are in the Northern hemisphere you can get your latitude by measuring the angle of the North Star (Pole Star or Polaris) above the horizon. The number of degrees above the horizon = your latitude.

I know ships measure longitude by looking at stars but I think in order to do that you also have to have an accurate clock and a listing of star positions or something similar.

I was in the Army, not the Navy, so you'll probably have to ask a squid for help on that. :088:

 

[Pskhaat]

No one's discussed LORAN(C) which has partial global coverage. VOR (as long as you're terrestrially nearby) and NDBs are also excellent supplemental devices. LORAN map below:

 

[durango_60]

OK, I'll say it "caveman!!!"

Without my gps I'm looking around for the giant billboard map with a "you are here" sign!

 

[paulj]

My dad gave me one of those astro-compasses when I was a kid, around junior high. I fiddled around with, lining it up with the earth's axis, sighting the sun etc. At the time we were living close to the equator, so the main axis of the compass was nearly horizontal. When I moved on to college my younger brother inherited it, and I lost track of it.

Later when I was more interested in sailing I bought a couple of sextants, one of the inexpensive Davis plastic ones, and very compact English one (about 3" in diameter). But I haven't done any serious land calculation with any of these.

paulj

 

[gjackson]

While all those here who shun GPS for the old map and compass ways are very heroic, I have found some of the best places I have ever overlanded are in places for which maps are hard to get, and good maps are impossible to get. In places in the Sahara there are no features on maps, or exaggerated features you cannot rely on. I realize that with resources and research you can go to places like that without a GPS. I, unfortunately, don't have the time or the resources to devote. I use my GPS. I like it a lot. I have probably risked my life on it. I will again. Just like any technology you need to know how to use it and what its limitations are. Most GPS units do have that fun warning when you boot them up. Take it seriously, but laugh at it all the same!

just my 2c

cheers

 

[DaveInDenver]

I have found some of the best places I have ever overlanded are in places for which maps are hard to get, and good maps are impossible to get. In places in the Sahara there are no features on maps, or exaggerated features you cannot rely on.

I use my GPS. I like it a lot. I have probably risked my life on it. I will again.

GPS is a very reliable system. It is robust, being a military resource. The receivers on the consumer market work fine, although IMO (quite unknowledgable) the ruggedness appears to vary to some extent. But I don't have a problem with GPS in concept nor in use. I primarily chose not to use it for cost and personal reasons. I spend all day in front of computers designing pieces for satellites, I could care less about them away from work. I specifically don't carry a laptop, digital camera, XM radio, GPS, etc. for that reason, to get away from the gizmos, beeping, whirling, blinking toys. I certainly don't expect anyone else would make that decision (in fact, please DO buy those things, it keeps me employed!).

The bottom line is I get personal satisfaction by navigating by map and compass. It makes me slow down, unwind and think; it relaxes me, that's the really the reason I'm stuck in the past.

I've only had the opportunity to travel in North America, with one tourist trip to Germany. Very good maps have been easy to get for me, thanks to the USGS, National Geographic and the DeLorme. Should I drive to a place that has little or no coverage on good maps, GPS would be very important. In the end, that is exactly why it was developed, to know location precisely in a place that you don't have good materials. It works very, very well for that purpose.

 

[gjackson]

(in fact, please DO buy those things, it keeps me employed!).

SWEET! Now I have a name to mutter thankfully when the GPS works and a name to scream to the clouds in rage when it fails!!

:victory: :coffeedrink:

cheers!!

 

[kcowyo]

..... I have found some of the best places I have ever overlanded are in places for which maps are hard to get, and good maps are impossible to get. In places in the Sahara there are no features on maps, or exaggerated features you cannot rely on. I realize that with resources and research you can go to places like that without a GPS. I, unfortunately, don't have the time or the resources to devote. I use my GPS.....

Well if I were doing an international trip like your Trans-Africa journey, or through the Australian outback where resources were limited and knowing where you are meant the difference between life and death, I would most certainly brush up on my GPS and mapping software skills and everything else I can get my hands on.

But in the lower 48 states however, I can usually figure out with just a map where I am. I do like the idea of blaming Dave when something goes wrong. I'll remember that on my next trip out.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I do like the idea of blaming Dave when something goes wrong. I'll remember that on my next trip out.

If for some reason the C&DH or SSR on one of the birds glitches, go ahead and scream my name. I'll be sure to think long and hard about the problem and go right back to drinking my beer. ;-)

 

[Haggis]

I've always like the feel of a map in my hands when I travel, and I like the large format of the map over the small screen of a GPS. I've never been to badly lost this way, but have ended up in some interesting places by accident. When I was a kid we spent about all of our time outdoors, either in the woods working for our family lumber business or hunting critters, so you sort of delevop a good gut sense of direction that you can fall back on and that has served me well sometimes. But in 2005 I was hunting in the interior of NewFoundland and I could not get a grip on the cardinal directions to save my life. I assume it was because of being so much further north than I was use to I just couldn't get my bearings straight. It would have been nice to have a GPS than, and as soon as I can overcome my inborn cheapitude I'll be getting one.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I made a choice to get a GPS after a trip to the Black Rock Desert in 1998. I had a fairly decent set of local maps (although I did not have USGS maps) and wanted to go to a few places I'd heard about. But out there on that flat playa, it was just too difficult to know exactly where I was, and being in one vehicle and alone, I didn't want to take any unneccessary risks, so I turned back at a few places where I could have kept going.

What GPS could have done in that situation would be to act as a "confidence builder." IOW, looking at the map and doing dead reckoning, I'd say "I think I'm right here, and this road must be the one here on the map." With GPS I can confirm that I am at the right place or navigate my way to the right place if I'm not.

I know that trip would have been more fun and more relaxing if I'd had the GPS to confirm my locations and help me get to the places I wanted to go, so I got my first GPS receiver in 1999 and haven't been without one since.