Military utility tools / Pace count
Pace count
Walk a measured distance, count your paces, and this gives you the factor. Then convert any leg either way.
Set the inputs, then work it out.
Pace factor--m per counted pace
Paces per 100 m--your count
Step length--m per footfall
That distance is--paces
That count is--metres
Paces per km--
1% error costs--m per km
Miscount of 5--m of error
How long should the calibration leg be?
A hundred metres is the minimum and works. Two hundred or more reduces the effect of a single miscount and is worth the extra walk if you have measured ground available.
What changes the factor most?
Slope, then load, then ground surface. Going uphill shortens paces sharply, and the return leg downhill does not compensate because downhill paces lengthen by a different amount.