| | Behavioural prerequisite | Navigation competence |
| Local navigation |
| Search | Goal recognition | Finding the goal without active goal orientation |
| Direction-following | Align course with local direction | Finding the goal from one direction |
| Aiming | Keep goal in front | Finding a salient goal from a catchment area |
| Guidance | Attain spatial relation to the surrounding objects | Finding a goal defined by its relation to the surroundings |
| Way-finding |
| Recognition-triggered response | Association sensory pattern-action | Following fixed routes |
| Topological navigation | Route integration, route planning | Flexible concatenation of route segments |
| Survey navigation | Embedding into a common reference frame | Finding paths over novel terrain |
There are two basic methods for navigation: