The Navigation tool can be used to navigate to a beacon, follow a path, or follow a bearing.
The compass can be used for both orientation and navigation. Your bearing is displayed at the top of the screen.
This feature is not available if your device does not have a compass.
You can choose to display nearby beacons on the compass. The following settings control the nearby beacons:
Nearby beacons will be shown as arrows around the compass. The arrows will point to the beacon, and when you are facing the beacon, more information about it will be shown at the bottom of the screen.
If you have the radar compass enabled, the nearby beacons will be shown on the compass itself.
The radar compass shows nearby beacons, paths, and tides as a map-like radar display. The radar compass is available with nearby beacons enabled. Once nearby beacons are enabled, you can turn on the radar compass using "Settings > Navigation > Show nearby radar compass".
You can pinch to zoom the radar compass, which will change the nearby beacon radius.
If your device does not have a compass, you can still choose to display the compass dial ticks by enabling the Settings > Navigation > 'Show dial ticks on nearby radar' option. Please note, that without a compass sensor, moving your device will not change the direction of the radar compass.
You can choose to display a map layer containing your Photo Maps on the compass by enabling Settings > Navigation > Photo Maps > Visible. This will show nearby Photo Maps as the background of the compass, with the most zoomed-in map appearing on top. You can also adjust the opacity of this layer to make it less visible via Settings > Navigation > Photo Maps > Opacity.
The linear compass is displayed when you hold your phone vertically. You can also use the sighting compass feature with the linear compass by tapping the camera icon on the right side of the screen. This will display the compass overlaid on a camera viewfinder. With the sighting compass active, you can pinch to zoom the camera viewfinder.
You can enable or disable the linear compass under Settings > Navigation > Show linear compass.
By default, it will point to True North, but it can be configured to point to magnetic north in the compass settings. The north reference is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
The compass shows the direction of the sun and moon, allowing you to navigate using them and verify the accuracy of the compass. You can configure the sun and moon display in Settings > Navigation > Show sun/moon on compass. The options are:
Phone compasses are not always accurate, so you should frequently calibrate your compass. You can calibrate your compass by waving your phone in a figure-8 pattern. For more detailed instructions and a visual, click the status icons in the bottom-left of the Navigation tool. This will guide you in calibrating your compass and also show details about location accuracy.
You can navigate to a beacon by tapping the navigate button in the bottom-right. This will open the Beacons tool, where you can select a beacon to navigate to. See the Beacons guide for more information.
While navigating to a beacon, the direction will be displayed on the compass and all other nearby beacons will become transparent. A navigation panel will display at the bottom of your screen with the following information:
You can stop navigating to a beacon by tapping the 'X' button in the bottom-right.
You can quickly create a beacon from your current location by long-pressing the navigation icon at the bottom-right. This will open the Beacons tool with the location and elevation pre-filled.
For more information on beacons, see the Beacons guide.
You can navigate using a bearing by tapping the compass to set a bearing. The set bearing will be displayed on the compass. You can tap the compass again to clear the bearing.
If you have the radar compass enabled, you can see nearby paths on the compass. You can't currently navigate along a path, but you can use the compass to see where the path is relative to you. If you have Backtrack running, you can see your current position on the path. For more information, see the Paths guide.
Your current location is shown at the top of the screen. You can tap it to see more details about your location. The details panel shows the following information:
You can long-press the location to quickly bring up the share menu.
Your elevation is shown at the top-left of the screen. You can tap it to see a history of your elevation. The history is only available if you have Backtrack or the weather monitor running - see the Paths or Weather guide for details on how to turn this on. You can adjust the length of the history by clicking the "Last 24h" dropdown at the top of the history panel.
Your speed is shown at the top-right of the screen. You can change the source of the speed in Settings > Navigation > Speedometer. The options are:
The following widgets can be placed on your device's homescreen or viewed in-app: