Finding Your Way In Atlas

Knowing which direction you're travelling in is a crucial skill when exploring the world, whether you're hiking in the hills or playing a video game like Atlas. In the former case, a compass and map are essential tools, while in the latter, an understanding of the game's world map and sectors is key.

Using Google Maps

Google Maps is a versatile digital map application that can be used to find your direction of travel. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

Step 1: Enable Location Services

First, ensure that location services are enabled on your device. This will allow Google Maps to accurately pinpoint your location and direction.

Step 2: Open Google Maps

Open the Google Maps application on your device. This will be your starting point for finding your direction of travel.

Step 3: Calibrate Your Compass

It is recommended to calibrate your compass to ensure the most accurate direction readings. You can do this by moving the map view around with two fingers until you see the compass symbol in the top-right corner.

Step 4: Understand the Compass

The Google Maps compass has a red symbol pointing north and a grey symbol pointing south. Your current direction of travel is indicated by a blue beam icon. For example, if the blue beam icon is on the right-hand side, you are heading east.

Step 5: Lock the Map Rotation (Optional)

You can tap the compass icon to lock the rotation of the map so that north is always at the top of the screen. This is useful if you want to manually adjust the map to face a certain direction.

Step 6: Navigate Using the Compass

With the compass as your guide, you can now move in the desired direction—north, south, east, or west. For example, if you want to head north, ensure that the blue beam icon is pointing upwards.

Additional Tips:

• Google Maps provides detailed directions, estimated path times, and multiple route options based on your chosen mode of transportation.
• You can add location pins to your Google Map to visualize your travel itinerary and plan your route more effectively.
• Google Maps allows you to create custom maps, add driving directions, and share your maps with friends for collaboration.

Using a physical compass and map

Choosing the Right Tools:

• Select a good map that covers your entire journey, includes essential features like roads and boundaries, and has a comfortable scale and datum.
• Choose a compass with specific features: a clear base plate, a sighting mirror, a rotating bezel with 360-degree markings, meridian lines, and a declination adjustment for correcting the difference between magnetic and true north.

Understanding the Basics:

• Know the different parts of your compass: the base plate, bezel or compass housing, compass needle, orienting lines and arrow, index line, and direction of travel arrow.
• Understand the different types of north: true north (geographical north), grid north (map north), and magnetic north (where your compass needle points).
• Adjust your compass for declination, the difference between magnetic north and true north, by altering the bezel or using a screw on the compass's rear.

Setting Your Direction:

• Line up the orienting line with your direction of travel. Spin the bezel until the orienting arrow aligns with the direction of travel arrow.
• Place your map on a flat surface and lay the compass on top. Line up the orienting lines with the north/south grid lines on the map.
• Turn your body until the magnetic needle comes to rest within the orienting arrow. Your map is now oriented towards true north.

Taking and Following Bearings:

• To take a bearing on the map, place the compass flat on the map, aligning the base with your current position and the mirror with your desired destination. Rotate the bezel until the north on the compass matches the map's north.
• To follow a specific bearing, turn the bezel to the desired bearing. Orient the compass with the clear part along your current position. Turn the compass until the meridian lines match the north/south lines on the map.
• Taking a bearing on a real object: Set the declination for your area, choose an object, and hold the compass outward and level. Close one eye and turn the bezel until the north needle is in the declination arrow. Read the heading and adjust for manual declination if needed.
• Following a bearing in real life: Dial in the bearing, set the sight mirror at a 45-degree angle, and hold the compass level at eye level. Close one eye and turn your body until the north needle is within the declination arrow. Choose a notable object in your direction of travel and head towards it.

Remember to practice these skills and always stay vigilant when navigating. It's essential to keep your map and compass handy and regularly refer to them during your journey.

Analysing travel times

The Travel Time Analysis feature can be used to calculate the area that can be reached within a specified travel time, based on the chosen travel mode. This can include walking, cycling, or driving, with the latter factoring in one-way roads, illegal turns, and other car-specific rules. Travel Time Analysis can also take into account current and historic traffic conditions to avoid slowdowns.

This analysis is useful for a range of applications, such as assessing the value of real estate, choosing the right retail location, or planning future transport developments. For example, it can be used to calculate the proximity of a property to key amenities, or to determine the impact of a new office location on employee commute times. Travel Time Analysis can also be used to identify the most suitable store location by considering the area's accessibility for customers and layering it with demographic data.

Additionally, Atlas provides tools to help users understand location-based data and perform advanced geospatial analyses. This includes creating zones around any feature on the map with just a few clicks. With these tools, users can make informed decisions, optimise travel routes, and visualise data in a collaborative and accessible manner.

Locating nearest facilities

Locating the nearest facilities is a crucial aspect of map reading and navigation, especially in emergency situations. Here are some methods to achieve this:

Using Digital Tools

Various digital tools and software, such as Atlas, QGIS, and Google Maps, can assist in locating the nearest facilities. These tools often allow users to input their current location and select categories of interest, such as hospitals or fire stations. The software will then highlight the closest options on the map. This method is user-friendly and efficient, providing quick access to vital information.

Compass and Map

Using a compass and map together is a traditional yet effective method for navigation. Here are the steps to follow:

• Understanding Compass Features: Familiarize yourself with the different parts of the compass, such as the base plate, bezel/compass housing, compass needle, orienting/compass lines, orienting arrow, index line, and direction of travel arrow.
• Finding Your Direction: Hold the compass in front of your chest with the direction of travel arrow pointing in your intended direction of movement. The red end of the compass needle will point to the north, indicating your heading.
• Setting the Map: Place the compass on the map and rotate the map and compass together until the compass needle aligns with the north-south grid lines on the map. Ensure that the red end of the needle points to the top of the map.
• Identifying Your Destination: Find a feature on the map that you want to head towards and identify it on the ground. Place the compass on the map again, aligning the orienting lines with your intended route.
• Determining Your Bearing: Rotate the bezel so that the orienting arrow points towards the north on the map. The number of degrees on the rim of the bezel at the index line is the bearing you need to follow.
• Following Your Bearing: Remove the compass from the map and hold it with the direction of travel arrow pointing straight away from you. Rotate your body, including the compass, until the red end of the needle is within the orienting arrow. Now, the direction of travel arrow should point towards your destination.

Using Digital Maps with a Compass

This method combines the use of digital maps with a physical compass. Here's how you can do it:

• Enable Location Services: Ensure that location services are enabled on your device to allow for accuracy in pinpointing your location and direction.
• Calibrate Your Compass: It is recommended to calibrate your compass to ensure the most accurate direction readings.
• Using Google Maps: Open the Google Maps app and look for the compass symbol in the top-right corner. The red symbol in the compass icon points to the north, while the grey symbol points south. Your blue beam icon will indicate your current direction of travel.
• Locking the Map Rotation (Optional): Tap the compass icon to lock the rotation so that north remains at the top of the screen. This simplifies navigation by keeping the map oriented in a fixed direction.
• Navigating: With the map calibrated towards the north, use your blue beam icon to adjust your direction of travel. For example, if the beam points to the right, you are heading east.

Using QGIS

QGIS is a powerful tool that provides advanced geospatial analysis capabilities. Here's how you can use it to locate the nearest facility:

• Data Preparation: Download the necessary data layers as shapefiles, including layers representing addresses, roads, and facility locations.
• Filtering Data: Filter the facility data to select only those centres providing facilities to adults, for example.
• Random Sampling: If working with a large number of addresses, perform random sampling to select a subset of addresses for analysis.
• Creating an Origin-Destination Matrix: Utilize the QNEAT3 plugin to compute an origin-destination matrix. This matrix calculates the shortest path between each pair of origin and destination points, helping to locate the closest facility to any given point.
• Analyzing Results: The output will be a table containing the origin and destination pairs along with the corresponding distances. Analyze the results to determine the nearest facility for each origin point.

Using the Atlas game map

The Atlas game map is expansive, covering tens of thousands of square kilometres. The map is divided into 225 segments, forming a square with dimensions of 15x15 sectors. These sectors are spread across six climate biomes: Polar, Tundra, Temperate, Tropics, Desert, and Equatorial. Each biome has unique characteristics in terms of climate, flora and fauna, and available resources.

At the beginning of the game, only your starting location is visible on the map, and you must explore to uncover the rest. You can navigate locally, within a specific sector, or globally, by moving between sectors. Local navigation can be done using the compass and map, which can be accessed by pressing the "M" key. Most sectors contain a single large island, sometimes several smaller ones, and rarely, a sector may be entirely composed of water.

To travel between sectors, you will need a ship, as most of the world of Atlas is covered by water. Swim towards the edge of your current sector in the direction you want to travel (west to go west, east to go east, etc.). Once you reach the edge, a peculiar light will appear above the water surface, indicating the entry to the neighbouring sector.

The official world map can be viewed at https://map.playatlas.com/, where you can see that all sectors are initially covered by fog, waiting to be explored and uncovered.

Frequently asked questions