Navigate using contour lines

Contour lines are really useful to anyone going out into the hills who uses a map to navigate as they’ll give you lots of information about the ground you’ll be walking over. Being able to visualise the terrain from the information on a map is one of the most useful skills to have before you set off for the hills.
With a little practice you’ll be able to imagine what the ground will be like and use that information to make an informed decision about your route choice.
Link to the history of contour lines which was mentioned in the video:
• A brief history of con...

[@astrecks]

OS used to sell 1-inch to 1-mile shaded relief tourist maps, which fascinated me as a child and interested me in maps and navigation.

[@clintwelch9843]

Just found your channel and burned through 5 videos in a row. Excellent content and excellent delivery. Greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work. Quality.

[@alabamatechwriter6959]

Great job! I like your rope contour lines, laminated heights, ball analogy, etc. It was all compact enough to fit in a pack, light enough to carry into the field for a quick lesson, and intuitive enough with familiar items for students to easily grasp.

[@stpetie7686]

Thanks again for the video. I always appreciate the info and the waffle's. Keep 'em both coming.

[@kennethswann6458]

This is the first video that's actually explained it your mixture of talking but also showing with the 3D maps and the actual contour line Maps and help so much can't wait to go through the rest of your stuff

[@anthonyharris7780]

Thanks for taking the time to do all these videos. Always useful to have another take on it and usually there is extra data that firms up existing knowledge 😊

[@user-jb2le9el3x]

I love your videos. Your style is so engaging!

[@simongee8928]

Very clearly explained Wayne. Several points new to me. Thanks - ! 😊

[@donloughrey1615]

I use them to plan our route to new areas while prospecting in the Mojave. They are quite necessary to avoid hiking up dead end canyon carrying all of our gear and having to back track. Also while canoeing in the Boundary Waters in Minnesota planning portages. Thank you for great videos .

[@SureGT21]

I have to re-watch this a few times but I am learning more from you than I ever did before. Thank you sir.

[@gabrielahmad1294]

Another great and informative video. Thank you.

[@joopterwijn]

Well you just changed my look at a map, well done sir!

[@petegillespie6978]

Great video. Very informative, well demonstrated and great presentation.😊

[@mickarmstrong633]

Always wondered why I meet a steep hill Contour lines very important Thanks Wayne very well explained

[@james-5560]

I love the way you present things

[@nikob5899]

Me too!!!🎉

[@James_Egan]

Good video and interesting and informative. Keep 'em coming!

[@savage_the_wild]

Great video as always!

[@50stuff]

Excellent explanation! 👏👏

[@cockknockery]

Great videos 👍 much appreciated

[@davespain7716]

Thank you Wayne, another great video

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@simoncee9011]

Thank you very informative.

[@user-yq4bi3wk7v]

Your comment at 6.52 re the rock face is a point I bring up in every class, sudden changes in height of the land between contour lines are not shown so don't rely totally on the contour lines to determine a safe course.

[@nazaninnaderi3783]

Sir, Thank you for this wonderful video. I found it informative and pedagogical. Did not know about the contourline-numbers being 90 degrees to the fall-line. This was the second video about contourlines, both very good. Could one make a request for more videos about this subject please?? I find contourlines a very important subject yet difficult to read and employ. I don't mean a video like a circle representing hilltop, hourglass shape a saddle, hashmark inside a cirkle a depression, closer lines steeper etc. More like reading and interpreting "on a higher level" . Love your videos and channel. Looking forward future videos. Best wishes.

[@LeopoldVDH]

Good video thank you

[@daviddilley8310]

Great video, thanks. Would love to have an app that created the 3D look from the contours. While knowing the datum used may be of interest, in the field it doesn't matter so much since the relative heights remain constant whatever the reference point. Also give the natural features all priority over the man made. Man-made can be added or deleted. Years ago, on a nav exercise we were dropped in pairs along a road after being dumped out of the back of a covered truck. Oriented the map and wondered why the telegraph wires were on the "wrong side" of the road. Then noticed the poles looked "fresh" and further inspection showed the depressions on the other side of the road from where the older ones had been removed. Made it back in time and learned a few pairs had used the wires to orient and ended up 180 degrees wrong for some time before realising their mistake. Match the terrain to the map, not the map to the terrain...Of course, the instructors had done this deliberately just to drive home this lesson.

[@GiC7]

Thanks

[@baconpapa]

Thank for this video help me finish geography QMA really important

[@philsmith2444]

Excellent video! When I got my “higher education” in map reading, so to speak, in the US army back in 1987 our instructors’ teaching styles were very different LOL. I had to think a bit as to what a “reentrant” was, it’s referred to as a “draw” here. And I never knew that contour numbers were put at right angles to the slope, although after looking at a couple maps it doesn’t appear to be very useful due to how far apart they are. The fall line would switchback all over the place, not make a smooth curve like yours. Maybe USGS topo maps don’t do that?

[@victorocampo8837]

Thanks.

[@keeblem1]

Great video

[@thomasobrien5997]

Great tks

[@BaxterM89]

Great video as always. What app or software did you use to get the 3d contour maps?

[@thepotterer3726]

The New River, when first built, roughly followed the 100 ft contour. It's neither new - over 400 years old, nor a natural river. The main source was the River Lee, just West of Hertford and was built to supply drinking water to London - it still supplies 10% of that. It has a meandering 25 mile route and falls just 14ft throughout its entire length - still a marvellous feat of engineering.

[@stigcc]

Great video! Can you somehow count the contour lines you are crossing and adjust your pacing estimate?

[@ericchilver9113]

8:42 🇦🇺🙋‍♂️👍😀 question....I recently saw a book titled "finding your way without map or compass by Harold Gatty" which leaves me with questions mainly how? The book is out of stock atm, keen to buy it though......just found the book here on KZbin as an audio book. Totally appreciate your informative videos

[@spot1401]

I am wondering: Is the term "isopleth' also used in maps? It is used for 'lines of equal values' in Nomography. Btw. great content, I am so happy I stumbled on your channel

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

I suppose you "could use "isopleth" instead on "contour line", but I have never heard anyone using it that way.

[@stewartlancaster6155]

fantastic video as usual, although I would suggest that Newlyn is in the south west, not south east.

[@roysoutdoorlife]

Agreed!

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Oh yeah! - oops. 😊

[@thehowlingterror]

Ta mister. 👍

[@rashie]

👍👍

[@Takn835]

@TheMapReadingCompany at around 50 seconds, you 'tilt' the map to show in 3D, was that acheived by a program?

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

No I only have one program to make videos DaVinci Resolve. I don't have any other programs to make videos. That effect was done in Photoshop

[@Takn835]

Thanks for the replies

[@astrecks]

Interestingly, you mentioned the 3D tilting. In the early 2000s, I bought some costly 3D software from Canada that allowed you to overlay digitised maps available from OS on CD format. When I saw that clip, I did wonder if it was the same software. The software was from Fugawi (I kid you not!). According to their website, it was discontinued in 2011, and the company ceased operation in 2019. I was an earlier adopter of hand-held GPS devices and could use the software to plan routes on the PC and upload the waypoints on the GPS. Conversely, I could upload the recorded track after the walk and plot my course against my planned route. It all seemed really hi-tech at the time. It wasn't long before the GPS device was left in the rucksack (as a backup emergency device), and navigating the traditional way with the old map and compass!

[@easternmenace]

When I walked the Cape Wrath trail some people had a guidebook that said follow the contour lines at a certain height (400 meters I think it was). I wondered how do you know it's 400 meters? Do you measure somehow or just look at the land and the curves sort of tell you that you are roughly at 400 meters?

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

You would need a map or a barometer

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@johnpowell9174]

Interesting that a single datum (at Newlyn Harbour) is used for Great Britain. How is the curvature of the Earth factored into contours and more generally altitude? The curvature across Britain will not be exactly spheroidal.

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Hi John here is the OS's take on this very subject (53 pages of it). www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/documents/resources/guide-coordinate-systems-great-britain.pdf Have a look at the orthometric height section about half way down the paper

[@johnpowell9174]

@@TheMapReadingCompany thank you. That OS publication is fascinating! It is full of interesting information eg islands have their separate height datums. It is relatively easy to understand.

[@johnrobertson7583]

Hello. Hope alls well. I am trying to get my friends to understand contour lines...they seem stuck on needing tick marks in re-entrants to be able to see whats up or downhill. There is an odd thing about this video clip as it is displayed on my screen...and maybe its just my device...the channels name just under the video title only says "T ...." and even the number of subscribers is compressed down to 32.... I will pull it up on my ipad to see if Safari is different...

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Hi John, I don't know what to advise as I have never used a Safari browser. Maybe someone else can offer some help.

[@deadcheddar3491]

OMG! A video without any interesting informative waffle! What happened?? Still a cracking vid and thank you.

[@chubeye1187]

Elevation rather than altitude

[@BCVS777]

Contour lines turn your map into a 3D image.

[@user-sg4tw9th8c]

Oh the irony, Newlyn is on the southwest coast, not southeast. 😂

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

😂

[@caseykelso1]

Reentrance is ridiculous. It is a draw. Please use a correct terminology.😮