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Posted by Grant on 22. January 2009 21:08
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A competitor in Untamed Switzerland asked about compasses, compass zones, and how to get a compass that works here in Switzerland. The compasses that work in the United States should work fine in Switzerland, but the world is split into different zones and it was a very good question to ask. This map shows the 5 zones the compass industry generally recognizes:
All of Europe is in the same zone as the United States, but it is interesting to see how the Southern Hemisphere is divided into 3 zones, even 4 if you include the South Pacific area.
One solution is to buy a compass with a global needle, and it will function in any of the zones. These are more expensive, but if you're serious about your navigation the cost is justified -- and the nicer compasses can also be more precise.
Another interesting fact related to this conversation: Switzerland has essentially no magnetic declination, with a value of 1 degree being so small as to not warrant concern for orienteering or adventuring. You can check declination values for anywhere in the world through NOAA's website, just plug the Latitude and Longitude in and off you go. You can also review a map of global declination values on the NOAA website.
At the race in Patagonia last year, we all became intimately familiar with the 14 degree East declination down there. So, for us to head 90 degrees on our map (aligned to grid north) we had to follow a 76 degree heading on our compasses. On our global compasses, that is!