In reply to Hans:
>
> Does the army do courses for civvies? They always seem excellent at navigation so perhaps this is the best option.
No they don't, Army PTI's run Brit Mil Fit, so it would be Army MAPRIC's running Brit Map Nav....
I can let you into the secret (I was top of the course on MAPRIC, I have also got lost at the head of 17 million pounds worth of armoured vehicles (dyslexic signaller, equal opportunities and all...)
It is all the information the army regards as required to relate a map to the ground: IE; there is nothing more a map can tell you once you have gone through these headings:
Direction
Distance
Conventional Signs
Relief
Alignment
Proximity
Shapes
Giving an acronym DDCRAPS (remember it by picturing daffy duck having a shit at the side of the road.)
Direction: What directions are you from things you can see on the map, what directions do they go (a bendy path will only point a certain direction once) (google intersection and resection if this is too much.)
Distance: How far are you away from the things around you. Does this fit into where you are?
Conventional Signs: Can you see anything that is shown on the map? A trig point? Building? Tree line? Bend in pylon line?
Relief: Can the contours help? If it slopes down at a direction, then perpendicular to that is the direction of the contours. Does a ridge go in a certain direction? Where does the ridge go in that direction on the map, what do you expect the next change to be? (I am Jungle Warfare Instructor too, this is the way to nav in 50m vis after 3 days.)
Alignment: Find some feature that you can see on the ground or on the map and line them up! Spur with peak, corner of wood with corner of road. etc..
Proximity: Are you close to anything that can be identified on the map? If so, how far away is it and how does that relate to your understanding of your location on the map?
Shape: Are there natural shapes around that can help you? Such as woodlines, rivers, roads, towns, contours (bordering on relief I know, but all cross disciplines.)
If you think you are lost and have more than 100m vis (doesn't matter for direction of relief though,) I challenge you to go through these headings and tell me that you still have no idea where you are. I did my ML with Carlos and he was alright.