Planning a Course
When you have information about the area you are travelling in, such as a map, you can plan how you wish to travel. Sometimes going directly in a straight line is not possible.
Example
In an orienteering race a runner wants to go from where she is standing to her target. Between these two places is a deep marsh surrounded by a large area of trees.
Using her map and compass, she can plan a way to get to the target by missing the marsh altogether.
The direction (bearing) and distance for each line length would be up to her to decide, then to measure and then to carry out.
This is a practical example of navigation. Questions can be set in a context like this and it would be up to you to decide the bearings and distances that the runner would use. You would draw a route and then measure the bearings and distances on the map.
Your answer is unlikely to be exactly the same as anyone else’s answer. Other contexts could include a boat avoiding an island at night or a plane avoiding a storm.
Interpreting a Course
If a sketch of a course is available you may be asked to describe it using bearings and distance. In the ship example earlier we developed the following sketch.
You could be given this sketch and asked to describe each part of the journey.
In this case the answer would be:
- Part 1 Bearing \(165^{\circ}\) Distance \(7\,km\)
- Part 2 Bearing \(43^{\circ}\) Distance \(4\,km\)
A part of a journey is sometimes called a ‘leg’ of the journey.
You may have to measure the angles and distances yourself from a scale diagram.
