Compass trainer
Reading about bearings is not the same as turning the dial yourself. This is a working compass you can drag: set the housing, turn your body, watch the needle swing. Three drills, no sign-up, works offline once the page has loaded.
What the three drills train
- Walk a bearing. The task gives you a number. Drag the dial to set it, then drag the baseplate to turn yourself until the red needle sits in the shed. When it does, the orange travel arrow points where you must walk. This is the whole skill in one motion.
- Read the dial. A bearing is already set; say what it is. Sounds trivial until you are cold, and it is the step people misread by 180°.
- Back bearing. Given the bearing you walked in on, name the one that takes you back. Add 180 below 180, subtract above it — the arithmetic that gets you to the car.
Controls
Drag the dial to rotate the housing; drag near the outer edge to turn your body. Keyboard: ← → turn the housing, A / D turn you, Shift for one-degree steps.
Where the simulation is honest — and where it isn't
The geometry is real: the needle holds north while everything else turns around it, exactly as it does in your hand. What a screen cannot teach is holding the compass level, the needle settling after you stop, or magnetic junk in your pocket pulling the reading. For that, see the section on the compass in your phone.
It also assumes zero declination — magnetic north and true north as the same thing. Fine for practice, worth knowing before you plot a long route on paper.