Late January marks the start of summer planning: maps on the table, route ideas and a list of portages to revisit. We spent a good part of last summer canoe camping and are heading out again this year.
One observation stands out every time: the planning bears no resemblance to that of our first trip to Algonquin Park, about thirty years ago. At the time, it relied on a paper map, a compass and a good deal of estimation to tell one bay from another. Today, half of the planning happens on a screen, and any phone in the canoe can show your position within a few metres.
Both methods work, but they reflect two very different ways of experiencing a lake.
How did people navigate before modern GPS?
On that first trip, navigation was a skill you either mastered or did not. You folded the map so the right section was on top, sealed it in a plastic bag, and compared the shape of the shoreline with the lines on the paper.
Islands are deceptive. At water level, a point and an island look exactly alike until you reach them. Anyone who has paddled a large lake knows the moment of realizing that the portage being sought is in the next bay, and that you have been aiming for the wrong one for forty minutes.
Handheld GPS receivers existed, but they were expensive and rarely seen in a canoe. A largely forgotten detail also applied: until May 2000, the US government deliberately degraded the civilian GPS signal. This policy, called Selective Availability, meant a consumer unit could place its user within roughly 100 metres. On a lake, 100 metres is the difference between the portage landing and the neighbouring swamp.
Switching off Selective Availability improved accuracy overnight. For paddlers, that decision has arguably mattered more than any device introduced since.
How accurate is GPS on a phone?
For those interested, the GPS.gov page on GPS accuracy is worth ten minutes of reading. It states that a GPS-enabled smartphone is typically accurate to within about 4.9 metres under open sky, and that accuracy decreases near buildings, bridges and trees.
For a canoeist, this last point is the one to remember. On an open lake, accuracy is excellent. In a narrow creek under a thick cedar canopy, it is much less so.
Phones also no longer rely on GPS alone. Most also receive other satellite systems, such as Europe's Galileo and Russia's GLONASS, which helps when a cliff blocks half the sky.
A few metres is more than enough to find a campsite, but the blue dot is not always accurate. Phone users on the water have likely seen the blue dot drift across a point of land while the canoe remained perfectly still; we have observed this firsthand. It is a reminder that the display is an estimate.
Should you choose a dedicated GPS unit or a phone with offline maps?
For a long time, the serious option was a dedicated handheld unit: rugged, waterproof and powered by AA batteries that could be swapped on a rock at lunch. Many paddlers still prefer them, and the choice is understandable, as a canoe trip is demanding on a phone.
Nevertheless, most people heading out today simply use their phones: better screen, better maps, and apps that let you download an entire region at home before losing signal. With the phone in a waterproof case and a power bank in the pack, this solution meets the needs of most weekend outings and week-long trips. The key is to do the download at home on Wi-Fi, not at the put-in with one bar of signal, a lesson most people learn once.
The other significant change is the satellite messenger. Devices such as the Garmin inReach allow you to send a text or trigger an SOS where there is no cell coverage at all. This is not navigation in the strict sense, but these devices have changed how people back home experience a ten-day absence in the bush, which matters a great deal.
What navigation gear should you bring this year?
- A phone with offline maps for the entire route, downloaded before departure.
- A paper map of the same area in a waterproof bag.
- A baseplate compass, and enough recent practice to genuinely know how to use it.
- A satellite messenger if the route passes through areas without cell signal.
Nothing on this list is new. The apps improve constantly, but the principle remains essentially the same.
Why do map and compass skills still matter?
Because screens sometimes fail. Phones fall into the lake or shut down in the cold, cases leak, and apps sometimes launch an update at the worst possible moment. In these situations, the person with a paper map and a compass who knows how to use them continues on their way. The person who has only ever followed a blue dot is in difficulty, and usually aware of it.
A quieter problem also exists. When following a screen, people stop reading the terrain. They do not notice that the wind has been from the west since early afternoon, or that the hill on the left should now be on the right. The old method required constant attention.
We learned this way, which likely shapes this view, but the observation remains valid.
We therefore recommend using the phone, which is an excellent tool, while bringing the map and practising with the compass on an easy day trip. That way, the first time it is truly needed will not be the first time you hold it.
What is the link between GPS and finding a local business?
A closer link than you might think. Location is at the heart of almost all of a small business's online activity. When someone travelling through the Outaouais types "canoe rental near me", their phone knows their position within a few metres, and Google determines the results partly on that basis. The same satellites that keep a paddler on course determine which outfitter receives the call.
If you run an outfitter, a campground or a gîte, your listing on Google Maps is as important as your website, if not more so. Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile in November; if the name in your old bookmarks no longer matches, that is the reason. The tool and its function remain the same. This listing is the core of local SEO: making sure the pin on the map belongs to you and shows the right hours and the right phone number.
Check those hours every season, because customers rely on the map more than on the sign on your door.