Navigation with GPS and Map

Introduction: This weeks activity was a continuation of the last three weeks. This time we were to track down all the flags with the help of a GPS and our map. But, there was  new twist, everybody was armed with paintball guns. Everybody was split into their teams of three once again, but we were not given a certain course, or set of flags, that we were to set out and find. This time we were to find all of the flags in any order we so choose. The only determining factor for which flags we should find first was to try and steer clear of other groups and their paintball guns.

Methodology: The first thing that we had to do was to update our existing maps. We had to add all of the flag points as well as the no shooting zones. Once again this was at the Priory, which is a public place and has a day care.

Updated map with the No Shooting Zone as well as all the Waypoints(flags)

Now that we had the map all ready to go, it was time to head over to the Priory and get our weapons and analyze the map to see what our best route would be. There were also some simple rules. We had 5 minutes to get to our starting piont with no shooting. If someone was shot in your team you had to wait 2 minutes in the spot of being hit. Also, obvious safety issues like don't shoot at somebody with no mask on and in general don't be cruel.

Choose your weapon.

Snowshoes were supplied, but were optional.
 

Ready to go.

Punch card for proving we reached that specific flag.

The waypoint flag with the punch hanging below.

We all picked out a gun and face mask and we all chose to wear snow shoes. The last time we were out here the snow was about 2 feet deep and pretty exhuasting to walk through. My one concern was walking through brush with the snow shoes, but they proved to be a life saver.
Once we were all dressed and ready to go we analyzed the map and tried to chose an efficeint route that would limit walking distance as well as an initial shoot out. I can't speak for everybody, but I was ok with not getting hit with paintballs right away..
The goal was to get to each coursepoint, punch our card, record a waypoint on our GPS and be the first to hit each coursepoint and return to the starting point.
We chose to start in the southwest corner at waypoint #2. We then worked our way around the largest no shooting zone in a kind of backwards C direction.

Map with the course points labeled.

We eventually ended up over by waypoint 14 at the end.

 

 

The map above shows my tracklog from my GPS and also each waypoint I took.

We were not able to make each course point due to time. With other teams shooting at us, it probably slowed us down by about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Final map our whole groups Tracklogs and Waypoints.

 

 

Discussion: From the looking at the groups tracklog we stayed pretty much on direct routes to each flag. We relied on our maps heavily and only used the GPS tracking if we were unsure that we were heading in the right direction. The contour lines n our map proved to be absolutly priceless when trying to get a bearing on where we were at. We did have two skirmishes with two groups, this can be seen by the two spots were many tracklog points are consolidated together. Points 3 and 12 as seen below.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion: I thought this was fun and creative way to put together everything we have learned about navigating. I was able to get some more hands on experience with GPS devices. I was also able to implement UTM coordinate systems in a real life situation. While out on this exercise, I could not help but think what it must be like to actually be out in some hellish terrain while being shot at with real bullets. It was exhausting enough navigating through brush and steep elevation changes, to have somebody trying to kill you while doing so must truly be a nightmare.

I know that the point of this exercise was to navigate, but it would have been fun to be in a smaller area, so the 'fighting' would be a little more intense.