I'm not usually navigating with great precision if I want to measure distances on my map, I usually compare my thumbnail or some such to the map scale, then step that over my route. It's only marginally useful to me, as I'm rarely travelling in a straight line anyway. Most backpackers' compasses have a ruler or two built into the side(s). Adjust your printer so that the scale on your printouts (for a given zoom level in Caltopo) matches one of the scales pre-printed on your compass/protractor. The size of your printouts is mostly up to your printer. Wasn't sure if there was some way of you could set a ratio so they could be utilized in some way on CalTopo maps.Īny feedback on the topic would be appreciated. Is there a setting on CalTopo that you can make the map render to a specific resolution so that it corresponds to one of the grids on the protractor? Obviously you can zoom in and out on CalTopo to print the exact area you want so I suspect this makes a product like this useless. I do most of my bearing markings, etc on CalTopo maps. I guess my big question with their use is that they are preprinted in various scales. Does anybody here use these products? They make it sound like a common item in the military, special forces, etc so I assume they have some value as a navigational tool (or they have successfully hooked me with their marketing hype ).
I guess they are small clear plastic cards with measuring lines, etc to make plotting bearings, measuring distance and so forth easier and more accurate. While looking for another compass recently I stumbled upon a product called a grid protractor.