Units

While this may not be everyone's favorite subject, units are important in land navigation.  There are just a few that need to be understood and you probably already know at least some.

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DISTANCE

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Feet are often represented by a single tick mark symbol: '  The abbreviation "ft" is used as well.

  500 Feet = 500 ft = 500'  

 

Do not confuse this with "minutes of angle" to be discussed later.  The foot is a unit of length, not angle.  When in doubt, if the context isn't clear, ask.

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An inch is abbreviated "in".  Sometimes you'll see a double tick mark for inches: "

  5 inches = 5 in = 5"

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A Yard is abbreviated "yd"

  1 yard = 1 yd

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A mile is abbreviated "mi".  This is sometimes called a "Statute Mile".

  2 miles = 2 mi

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Meters, the base unit of the UTM grid system, are simply abbreviated as "m"

  1,000 meters = 1,000 m

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A kilometer is 1,000 meters and is abbreviated "km"

  1 kilometer = 1 km

 

Conversions:

5,280 feet are in one mile.  

This was defined long ago in Roman Empire times where the length of 1,000 two-step paces was equal to about 5,280 of a typical Roman soldier's foot.  That's how the term "mile" was developed, from the latin "mille passus" which eventually got shortened to "mile".

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3 feet are in one yard

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3.3 feet are in one meter

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1 yard = 0.91 meters

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The simplest way to convert paces from one distance to another is to determine what the distance is you walked in the units you're wanting to use. 

 

If one walked 120 paces (one pace = one step) in 100 yards, that pace is:

120 paces / 100 yards = 1.2 paces/yard

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To find that person's pace in meters, find the distance walked in meters.  100 yards = 91 meters so the pace would be:

120 paces / 91 meters = 1.32 paces/meter

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To find the pace in feet, find how many feet the person walked: 100 yards = 300 feet:

120 paces / 300 feet = 0.4 paces / foot 

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Angles

The most common unit of angle is degrees and is symbolized with a superscript circle: °

You could use decimal or fractional degrees for angles smaller than 1°.  But often, smaller units are referred to in minutes and seconds.

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A minute of angle (MOA) is symbolized with a single tick mark: '

A second of angle is symbolized by two tick marks: "

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Like with distance, be careful not to mix up angles and distances.  Often, angles are depicted with the symbol: ∠ or ∢.  Remember to read everything in context.  It doesn't make sense if you're talking azimuths to use feet ('), so that single tick symbol probably means minutes of arc.

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1° (degree) = 60 minutes = 60'

1 minute = 60 seconds = 60"

For a visual description of this, click here:

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If you were to take a basketball and place it 1/2 mile away from you, the diameter of the basketball would be about 1 minute of angle.

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An easier to see example would be something familiar to you if you shoot.  If your target is 100 yards away and you have two hits that are one inch apart, those shots would be about 1 minute of angle apart.  Those two shots would be twice as far away from each other on a target at 200 yards, but the angle is still 1 minute of angle.

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