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Navigational challenge - reading maps on the moors

Three young people learn how to read a map to complete a navigational challenge on the Yorkshire moors.

Joe Crowley helps three young people who have little or no map reading skills complete a navigational challenge. Three teenagers are taken out into a mystery location in the Yorkshire countryside. Their first task is to locate their position. Using a combination of observational skills and map symbols and features, Danyaal, Haseeb and Fezzy identify their location. They relate features like a phone box, houses, and a road to symbols on the map. The boys are asked to follow a path on a disused railway track, past some mine workings to meet Joe a few kilometers. They need to pass a plantation of trees and choose the right path from two possible options.

A heli-camera flies above the teenagers so that map features can be related to the landscape. The boys hesitate to follow a path through a farmyard but Joe explains the idea of rights of way. Danyaal, Haseeb and Fezzy identify a farm that they can see on the map which helps guide them to the right route. On one side of a steep faced valley the boys correctly identify old mine workings and kilns, which are clearly visible on the map. At the plantation of coniferous trees, the boys take a wrong turn. But examining the map closely they realise their mistake and get back on course.

They struggle to find their way again, and Joe explains the importance of being able to navigate when paths are not clearly visible, using features like streams. Again the boys go wrong, but again they correctly identify where they have gone wrong and correct their route. Danyaal, Haseeb and Fezzy next have to follow the route when it transfers from one map sheet to another. Joe explains how to use gridlines, and eastings and northings to achieve this successfully. The boys find their way across an expanse of moorland which, Joe explains, can often have few map features. The boys notice Boundary Posts and Markers to help them. As the mist falls, the boys complete their challenge and meet Joe at their destination.

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Duration:

10 minutes

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