Tips on reading a map and determining your location.

[Dbrow 25]

I recently was in the woods, im assuming north as that was the direction I was heading after spawning, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a tent.

Took a DMR, some food, water, etc. and a MAP! woo! So I continued to wander and I stumbled upon a village. Now, I wanted to use my map to head toward an airfield, but I have no idea how to figure out where I am.

I try looking at signs, but my Russian/Cyrillic is non exsistant and I can't figure out what town I'm near.

Do you guys have any tips to help read the map?

[Fitzkrieg 129]

Well, I had the same problem when I first started playing Arma2, way back months ago. After awhile you begin to know where towns/cities are in correlation to each other. ex: Elecktro is east of Cherno. And you can just try and use the first letter as a good help, the length of the word. I mean Elecktrogorsk is a big word, but it starts with an E. Just some little tips that helped me. Hope they help you too.

[worldsprayer 1]

I've actually taught this skill to a number of people I've been playing with. Land Nav is one of my better skills (in real life) and the Arma 2 engine has been a great place to practice. A compass and map mean you will never get lost.

Now you don't have a compass which is an issue, but not a big one in truth. A compass is NICE..but not essential

First, you need to ID your major landmarks. Those would be: HUGE hills, cities/towns, bodies of water, and roads.

For the road, you want to know if it is a primary (orange on map, is 2 lane paved with stripes), improved (solid line, is paved with no stripes), or basic (dotted line, is dirt track). If you know what direction north is, and you know what kind of road you are near, that is a start.

Then, is there a town/city near by. If you know you have a town with a highway entering it from the SW, you can now eliminate numerous towns. Learn to id features on the map. Can you see a church in the town? If so, you want a town with a highway, coming from the SW, with a church in the correct spot on the map.

Hills. Finally, you can take ALL that above, and compare it to see if there is a town relevant to the hill your near (if there is one)

Bodies of water a no-brainer. there are so few on the map that if you are near a pond and even know what QUARTER of the map you're on, you'll likely find yourself.

I hope that helps.

[Dbrow 25]

I actually do have a compass, however it still does not seem to help. I just refilled my water bottle at a small pond, and I'm heading east towards this big ass Sky Needle (red and white) looking thing. I've tried to indentify towns, i've actually just printed a Cyrillic to USA alphabet sheet to help translate signs.

Thank you for your help thus far, I suppose I just need some practice.

[teapot156 79]

The clouds move from west to east. http://dayzdb.com/map if you want translations of city names.

There is also realistic star constellations you can go by but I'm not sure how that works.

Edited July 30, 2012 by teapot

[Teiwaz 45]

I actually do have a compass, however it still does not seem to help. I just refilled my water bottle at a small pond, and I'm heading east towards this big ass Sky Needle (red and white) looking thing. I've tried to indentify towns, i've actually just printed a Cyrillic to USA alphabet sheet to help translate signs.

Thank you for your help thus far, I suppose I just need some practice.

Pond, big ass red-white needle to the east - sounds like you're heading for Green Mountain. I wouldn't go there if I where you ;)

Don't worry, navigation skills come with practice. If you can't decrypt the Cyrillic names, just look for buildings, things like ponds and, most important IMO, streets and how they wind through the landscape.

[Dbrow 25]

After decypting some Cyrillic I found out I am about 5km from PAVLOVO which is WAY TOO South from where I wanna be.

Teiwaz: Too be honest, I don't know where I'm heading. I feel like "The Book of Eli" Instead of going West, I'm just going North. On a mission from God haha.

[Teiwaz 45]

After decypting some Cyrillic I found out I am about 5km from PAVLOVO which is WAY TOO South from where I wanna be.

Teiwaz: Too be honest, I don't know where I'm heading. I feel like "The Book of Eli" Instead of going West, I'm just going North. On a mission from God haha.

Well, if you now know you're near Pavlovo... seems you've gone south from the pond and seeing that big ass needle to the east (= radio tower on top of Green Mountain).

If you want to go north, just look for the main road leaving Pavlovo to the north (as described by Vyncent - paved road, 2 lanes, stripes on it). Keep that road to your right and move along. Try to keep covered in the forrest (you're harder to see that way and won't get sniped in the open). When you have to leave the forrest, just look for the next big landmark - in your case that should be Zelenogorsk (as you have a map, you should be able to chose a nice and easy to see landmark). Again, keep that to your right until you reach the forrest again. Walk the outscirts of the forrest towards Zelenogorsk until you can see the main road again, and start again navigating by keeping the road to your right.

Easy going ;)

If you get lost, NEVER turn around like crazy. Keep a straight line, you WILL hit something like a road, town, landmark, ... and from there you should find your way again.

[Dbrow 25]

I have determined that I am infact at Green Mountian Radio Tower. Man...this map is BIG.

Gonna wait it out here till the patch gets rid of the artifacts, then off North. Thanks for the help everyone!