Land Navigation
Know exactly where you are.
Then get exactly where you are going.
Land navigation training by DTD
Land navigation is the skill of fixing your own position and reaching a point you have chosen, with a map, a compass and your own judgement.
Almost everybody who goes into terrain now navigates by phone, and almost nobody has a way of finding themselves when it stops. A flat battery, a cold battery, no cached map or a canopy that blocks the sky are all ordinary events, and every one of them ends the same way.
We teach the skill underneath the device, in three levels, from a first look at a map to navigating alone across unfamiliar ground at night.
Courses are being scheduled now.
What you can do afterwards
Take any Swiss 1:25,000 sheet and say where you are standing, to ten metres.
Take a bearing off the map, walk it, and arrive where you meant to.
Read and pass a position in the Swiss grid, in latitude and longitude and in MGRS, and know which one you are holding.
Plan a cross-country route in terrain you have never seen, and walk it.
Use GPS properly, and keep going when it fails.
Navigate at night, and get yourself back when you are genuinely lost.
Book a course
The swisstopo 1:25,000 sheet, contour and terrain reading, the Swiss grid, the compass and the three norths, and your own measured pace count.
For anyone starting from nothing. No experience is assumed, including never having held a compass.
Dates to follow
Every coordinate system and how to tell which one you hold: Swiss grid, latitude and longitude, UTM and MGRS. GPS taught properly and its failure modes taught honestly. Route planning, resection, and lost procedure.
For anyone who has level 1 or can pass the check exercise on the day.
Dates to follow
Long-range planning, a full night navigation exercise, direction from the sun and stars, micro-navigation, relocation when genuinely lost, and leading other people. Ends with a graded independent exercise.
For anyone who has completed level 2.
Dates to follow
The three levels
Level 1, Foundation
The map, the compass, the Swiss grid and your own pace count. You finish able to locate yourself and walk to a point you choose, in daylight, on ground with paths.
Level 2, Application
Every coordinate system, GPS and its failure modes, route planning, resection, and what to do when you are wrong. You finish able to cross unfamiliar country on a plan you made yourself.
Level 3, Advanced
Distance, darkness, and navigating with degraded instruments or none at all. You finish able to navigate independently and to lead other people.
The levels run in order. You can skip a level by passing a short check exercise on the day, and if you cannot pass it we will put you on the level below instead. That is not us being difficult: a student carried past the foundation fails in front of the group, and nobody enjoys that.
Who teaches this
Everyone who teaches here served in the French Foreign Legion. That is where the standard comes from, and it is the reason we teach these subjects rather than only selling the equipment for them.
Day to day we are a small outfit in Switzerland selling night vision and thermal, and we spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about how people move in the dark.
Navigation is the skill our equipment quietly assumes you already have. Teaching it sits inside our trade rather than beside it.
Who it is for
Anyone who goes into terrain
Hikers, hunters, ski tourers, photographers, and anyone whose day out stops being a day out when the weather closes in. No background is assumed and none is required.
People who already own the equipment
If you own night vision, thermal or a GPS and have never been taught to navigate without them, this is the course that makes the equipment worth carrying.
Groups responsible for people
Search volunteers, expedition and outdoor teams, youth organisations, and anyone who has to account for where everybody is.
You need to be able to walk for a day in the terrain the level calls for. Level 3 includes a full night out.
What you bring
Footwear and clothing for the season and the ground, and a headtorch with a red mode for level 3. Everything else is provided. Maps, compasses and all course material are waiting for you on the course.
Bring your own compass if you already own one, because there is real value in learning on the instrument you will actually be carrying afterwards. If you do not own one, that is not a problem and it is not an extra cost.
What this is not
This is DTD Systems GmbH teaching you to navigate. There is no Swiss qualification in land navigation and we hold none to award. You receive a DTD certificate of attendance, which records what was covered and nothing more. It is not a licence, it is not recognised by any authority, and it does not make you safe in terrain that would not have been safe anyway.
FAQ
Do I need any experience?
No. Level 1 assumes nothing at all, including that you have never held a compass.
Can I start at level 2 or 3?
Only if you can already do the level below. There is a short check exercise on the day: orient the map, read a grid reference to ten metres, and take and walk a bearing. If that goes well you carry on.
Is this not all solved by my phone?
Your phone is excellent until it is not. We teach you to use it properly, including the parts most people get wrong, and we teach you what to do in the hour after it stops working.
What map do you teach on?
The swisstopo 1:25,000, which is the map you will actually own and carry in Switzerland.
Do you teach alpine or winter navigation?
No. We run in forest, farmland and hill country. Alpine, glacier and winter mountaineering navigation is a separate discipline with its own qualifications, and we do not teach it.
Where and when does it run, and what does it cost?
Dates, location and pricing are being finalised. Send us an enquiry and we will give you the details directly as soon as they are set.
How to book
- Send us an enquiry saying which level you want and what you want out of it.
- We come back to you with dates, location and pricing.
- You confirm your place and we send the programme and the kit list.
Enquire about a place: info@dtdsystems.ch
Courses run in Swiss Mittelland forest, farmland and hill country, on terrain up to SAC hiking grade T2. We do not teach in alpine, glaciated or winter mountaineering terrain.
Book a course
The swisstopo 1:25,000 sheet, contour and terrain reading, the Swiss grid, the compass and the three norths, and your own measured pace count.
For anyone starting from nothing. No experience is assumed, including never having held a compass.
Dates to follow
Every coordinate system and how to tell which one you hold: Swiss grid, latitude and longitude, UTM and MGRS. GPS taught properly and its failure modes taught honestly. Route planning, resection, and lost procedure.
For anyone who has level 1 or can pass the check exercise on the day.
Dates to follow
Long-range planning, a full night navigation exercise, direction from the sun and stars, micro-navigation, relocation when genuinely lost, and leading other people. Ends with a graded independent exercise.
For anyone who has completed level 2.
Dates to follow