Nothing that doesn't involve mods. I suppose you could keep a list of coordinates and navigate using the F3 screen. Ahrandir's suggestion is the best for route finding in vanilla. Long before maps of any kind were commonly available people navigated via roads, landmarks and signs. The problem is people nowadays are lazy. Why take the time to build a boring road if I can just sprint cross-country if I only had a waypoint to guide me.
While it's buggy and incomplete to the point of (potential) unreliability, you could leave maps in item frames. These maps turn into green markers on the map you're holding, forming a nice little waypoint system. Caveats:
1)there are no labels so you will not be able to tell, except by memory, which marker is which location
2)the in-game maps do not reflect y coordinate. You'll have to dig down or pillar up to find the marker, if it wasn't plopped down on the surface.
3)not sure if any such maps will show up as "off the map" the way a player does when you go too far. If not, you won't know which direction to go except by memory.
While it's buggy and incomplete to the point of (potential) unreliability, you could leave maps in item frames. These maps turn into green markers on the map you're holding, forming a nice little waypoint system. Caveats:
1)there are no labels so you will not be able to tell, except by memory, which marker is which location
2)the in-game maps do not reflect y coordinate. You'll have to dig down or pillar up to find the marker, if it wasn't plopped down on the surface.
3)not sure if any such maps will show up as "off the map" the way a player does when you go too far. If not, you won't know which direction to go except by memory.
A major issue with this method is that the chunks the maps are in (including spawn chunks) must be loaded at least once during the current session to show up, otherwise the game has no way of knowing they exist since it doesn't save markers with the map data (see MC-1528, marked as won't fix).
As for #3, unless it has changed in newer versions (I play 1.6.4) you can still see map markers at the edge of another map as long as it isn't too far away (the Wiki says 320 blocks from the center of the current map per level of zoom, which take to mean 320 for level 0 and 1600 for level 4; however, I still see a marker (left edge) for maps located in the spawn chunks about 2200 blocks away from the center of a neighboring map, so that may only apply to players. Either way, the requirement that the chunks be loaded at least once limits this to the current session, or until the server restarts).
My method of "waypoints" is to build cobblestone pillars where I've left off while caving so I can easily find it again; elevation isn't an issue since I dig to the surface and/or find a cave that leads to the surface from where I left off. If I don't plan to return right away I'll write down the coordinates since it can be months before I return to them (I even have some points written down from years ago that I haven't gotten back to yet); with the aid of maps, which I carry around while caving so I can see where I've been so far in general, and the fact that these points will be at the edge of the explored area I usually don't need to look at the coordinates more than once to find my way back to them.
Here is a rendering of part of my world, they are most easily seen in deserts:
Is there anything with 'way points?'
Nothing that doesn't involve mods. I suppose you could keep a list of coordinates and navigate using the F3 screen. Ahrandir's suggestion is the best for route finding in vanilla. Long before maps of any kind were commonly available people navigated via roads, landmarks and signs. The problem is people nowadays are lazy. Why take the time to build a boring road if I can just sprint cross-country if I only had a waypoint to guide me.
by c0yote
I tried it with terrible results. I gave my wife my glasses for a second, a creeper showed up and now my wife is pregnant.
Stupid 3D..
While it's buggy and incomplete to the point of (potential) unreliability, you could leave maps in item frames. These maps turn into green markers on the map you're holding, forming a nice little waypoint system. Caveats:
1)there are no labels so you will not be able to tell, except by memory, which marker is which location
2)the in-game maps do not reflect y coordinate. You'll have to dig down or pillar up to find the marker, if it wasn't plopped down on the surface.
3)not sure if any such maps will show up as "off the map" the way a player does when you go too far. If not, you won't know which direction to go except by memory.
A major issue with this method is that the chunks the maps are in (including spawn chunks) must be loaded at least once during the current session to show up, otherwise the game has no way of knowing they exist since it doesn't save markers with the map data (see MC-1528, marked as won't fix).
As for #3, unless it has changed in newer versions (I play 1.6.4) you can still see map markers at the edge of another map as long as it isn't too far away (the Wiki says 320 blocks from the center of the current map per level of zoom, which take to mean 320 for level 0 and 1600 for level 4; however, I still see a marker (left edge) for maps located in the spawn chunks about 2200 blocks away from the center of a neighboring map, so that may only apply to players. Either way, the requirement that the chunks be loaded at least once limits this to the current session, or until the server restarts).
My method of "waypoints" is to build cobblestone pillars where I've left off while caving so I can easily find it again; elevation isn't an issue since I dig to the surface and/or find a cave that leads to the surface from where I left off. If I don't plan to return right away I'll write down the coordinates since it can be months before I return to them (I even have some points written down from years ago that I haven't gotten back to yet); with the aid of maps, which I carry around while caving so I can see where I've been so far in general, and the fact that these points will be at the edge of the explored area I usually don't need to look at the coordinates more than once to find my way back to them.
Here is a rendering of part of my world, they are most easily seen in deserts:
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?