All you need to know about navigating in the bush

It’s common in urban areas to use electronic navigation to find your way around.

Whether it’s a smartphone, iPad or laptop, you can find not only maps of where you plan to go but also maps pinpointing exactly where you are now, and where and when to turn next.

But navigation is not quite as simple when out in the bush in your 4x4 off-roader.

While you can set up a smartphone for navigation in the bush, it’s not recommended as the key navigational tool when venturing well off the beaten track in your 4WD.

If you were just relying on Apple or Google Maps, you’ll find they don’t work when the cellular signal inevitably drops out.

In any case, the standard mapping apps on phones do not offer much, if any, off-road track details.

Smartphones come with map apps more catered for urban areas, although you can improve on this as we’ll explain below.

Even if you’re familiar with a particular bit of bushland, the landscape can change – after a fire or flood, for example – and look very different to last time you were out there in your four-wheel drive.

Navigation isn’t purely about getting where you want to go without the frustration and time wasted in getting lost; it can be a life-saver. Being hopelessly lost in the bush can turn dangerous quickly.

Even with a good bush navigation set-up, if you’re still driving in a dense forest in an unfamiliar area as the sun goes down, you’re asking for trouble.

Dusk is a good time to set up camp, so plan ahead on your trip to find a camp spot before dark. There’s no need for night time orienteering.

While having good navigation equipment (and knowing how to use it) will make it unlikely, you might still get lost in the bush. Make sure you have told someone at home where you’re going and check in regularly.

A personal safety beacon or sat-phone are also sensible safety back-ups to take when in the bush.

Speaking of knowing how to use navigational tools, don’t break open the boxes and turn them on for the first time after getting lost in the Outback. Practice using them at home, then on a weekend away in local bushland first.

Many factory-fitted native sat-nav units in 4WDs do not offer much, if any, detailed off-road mapping – and often the mapping that is provided is outdated, so can’t be relied upon.

Most smartphones have in-built GPS. In theory, you could use one for bush navigation when loaded with a topographical map app for use offline.

The problem is that GPS use is hard on the phone battery – feel how hot your phone gets using it.

You are also putting a lot of faith in a small and relatively fragile hand-held electronic device – one not unknown to freeze or otherwise fail – to prevent you getting lost in the middle of nowhere.

That’s a big call.

The key navigational tool to use when out in your 4WD in the bush is a dedicated Global Positioning System (GPS) unit. A GPS receives signals from satellites to give you your exact bearings.

There are many GPS choices, but the three key types are: small hand-held units, portable in-vehicle types and in-car infotainment replacement units.

If you have a hand-held or portable GPS unit, have it secured in a mounting fixed to your four-wheel drive, and make sure it has a charger plugged in.

Portable units have bigger screens generally, but a hand-held GPS unit is usually built tougher and more compact so it’s also good for bushwalking.

Aftermarket infotainment systems are typically better than the factory units as they allow you to load up and regularly update maps – including off-road mapping.

Whether you’re using a hand-held type, a portable unit or have an in-car infotainment sat-nav unit fitted, the key requirement for remote country coverage is having the unit loaded with up-to-date topographical maps for the area you’re travelling in.

There are companies such as Hema and Garmin that offer up-to-date bush mapping software for popular off-road destinations.

Try to avoid buying the cheapest possible GPS unit. A good GPS unit is literally a life-saver.

To give you a general idea of cost, expect to spend about $400-$800 for a good hand-held or portable GPS unit with off-road mapping, and about $900-$1200 for an in-vehicle infotainment/GPS unit with off-road mapping.

Even the most basic GPS will allow you to mark way-points and assist with backtracking if you’ve become lost.

Such basic GPS units might save you some money, but they have limitations.

You need to have the paper maps to correlate the co-ordinates the GPS gives you. The basic function of a GPS – precise longitude and latitude readings – helps in the situation where the map is outdated.

It’s a better idea to spend a little more money on a GPS unit that has mapping software included, preferably with as large a screen as possible. This should give you all you need to know about where you are on your GPS’s screen.

Many more popular remote travel locations have been mapped recently and you can get these up-to-date maps to upload into your GPS.

A dedicated GPS with current off-road mapping loaded will potentially have other nice-to-have features such as POIs (points-of-interest) like campsites, waste dump points, rest areas and fuel stops.

With some of them, you can also include geo-tagged images, sync way-points, save and share favourite routes and record your trips.

It’s a good idea to have back-up mapping in case your main navigation tool fails.

You can download a topographical map app to your smartphone, iPad or laptop, so even if you have no cellular signal you can have access to maps.

Make sure you can download them for offline use – not all apps allow this.

The other back-up is much more old-school but arguably more reliable – that is, paper topographical maps and a compass.

A back-up such as paper maps and a compass might not be vital if you’re only going half an hour into a local state forest, but for remote regional travel it is a must. If your GPS unit fails, you can still find your way.

You should have a general map of the area, which can even be an Australian road atlas to help give context to a location you haven’t visited before.

Because of its scale – on a map much larger than any electronic screen you’re likely to bring along – a general map is useful even to just get a better general perspective of where you are.

You should also have a map of the specific area you’re in, such as a 1:125,000 topographic map. Then, if you are driving on bush tracks, you should take all the 1:25,000 topographic maps you can get of the area you plan to visit with you.

Navigating with a paper map can be difficult. You don’t often have obvious landmarks. If you have read the elevation of the maps and can correlate that (and have your compass bearings), then you should be able to still make sense of it.

Surveying for most government maps was last done more than 40 years ago. Since 2019, many are also no longer printed.

However, the government-run Geosciences Australia website has them for free. Download the file and either print them yourself or take the files for large-format printing at an office-supplies printing outlet.

Often the bush can end up all looking the same when you’re lost, but with a good GPS unit – and an offline phone app maps or paper map and compass back-up – you need never face that sinking feeling of not knowing where you are.

Navigating in the bush – Quick reference do’s and don’ts
• Don’t ever travel in remote bush without working navigational equipment and a back-up
• Before going on a big trip, practice using a GPS and reading paper maps somewhere easy to navigate such as a local forest
• Keep a friend at home updated on where you are and where you plan to go
• Have a fail-safe back up such as a personal location beacon or sat-phone
• Buy the best GPS you can, with up-to-date topographical maps
• Have a back-up, such as smartphone topographic maps useable offline or paper topographic maps and a compass