Compass bearings — Geography, 11–13
Learn how to describe a direction precisely, not just as north or south. Geography, 11–13 years.
idea
A bearing is a direction measured clockwise from north, using three digits from 000° to 360°. North is 000° or 360°, east is 090°, south is 180°, and west is 270°. So a bearing tells you exactly which way to travel, even when words like north-east are too vague.
why
Saying “go roughly east” is not enough for rescue teams, hikers or ships: a small error can grow into a missed destination. Sailors and surveyors developed precise angle-based directions because they needed to share routes that others could repeat. A full circle has 360 degrees, so bearings fit naturally on a compass.
worked example
You stand at point A and need to walk to point B. Place the compass centre at A, point its direction-of-travel arrow towards B, and turn the housing until its north lines match the needle. Read the index: it says 135°. That is the south-east direction, but the three-digit bearing is the useful answer.
common trap
A common mistake is measuring from the direction you are facing, or reading the angle anticlockwise. That feels reasonable because we often describe turns from our own viewpoint. Bearings always start at north and move clockwise, whatever direction your body or map happens to face.
where it appears
You can use bearings on a hike to follow a route between landmarks, or to describe where a lost person was last seen. Search teams, pilots and sailors use the same idea with more accurate instruments. Phone navigation usually hides the angle, but it still calculates directions from north.
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