How To Orient a Map

It is recommended before you attempt to learn this skill that you are familiar with the parts of a compass and how to take and find bearings.

Knowing how to orient a map is a valuable skill to a orienter. What you are doing is positioning the map relative to your surroundings. You do this a lot without even knowing it when you look at the map of a shopping mall or an amusement park. This is one method of orienting a map by using landmarks. Simply look for distinguishable landmarks that are marked on the map, and turn so that both you and the map are facing this object. Turn the map so that the map is showing that landmark in front of your position. If you do not know your position, you may need to use several landmarks to locate your location.

Unfortunately, when in the wild there are few landmarks and no "You Are Here" marker. You will most likely be working with a much larger area, where you need to get to a location that is out of sight. You will need to orient the map with a compass. Place your compass somewhere on the map so that the front of your compass is right along the north edge of your map. Turn your compass and map together until the red north arrow is pointing straight at the north edge of the map. Some maps, especially those that do not have exact north, south, east, and west edges, will have a true north arrow somewhere in the legend. You can place your compass on this guide and turn both the compass and map until the red north arrow is hovering over that true north indicator.