Tactical Movement

If an encounter involves combat, it's often a good idea to track the movement and relative position of the participants using a Starfinder Flip-Mat or some other form of grid to display the terrain and miniatures to represent the combatants. When a character moves on a grid, every 1-inch square of the play area is 5 feet across in the game world. Hence, a creature moving in a straight line spends 5 feet of its movement for every map square traveled. Difficult terrain can make some squares cost more of your movement.

Creatures and objects of different sizes occupy different amounts of space. The sizes and the spaces they each take up on a grid are listed in the Size and Reach table (see below). The table also lists the typical reach for creatures of each size, for both tall creatures (most bipeds) and long creatures (most quadrupeds). See Range and Reach for more about reach.
The Space entry lists how many feet on a side a creature's space is, so a Large creature fills a 10-foot-by-10-foot space, or 4 squares on the grid. (If you need to measure in three dimensions, their space is also 10 feet high.) Sometimes part of a creature extends beyond its space, such as if a sky fisher is grabbing you with its lasso filaments. In that case, the GM will usually allow attacking the extended portion, even if you can't reach the main creature.

A Small or larger creature or object takes up at least 1 square on a grid, and creatures of these sizes can't usually share spaces except in situations like a character riding a mount.
Multiple Tiny creatures can occupy the same square. At least four can fit in a single square, though the GM might determine that even more can fit. Tiny creatures can share a space occupied by a larger creature as well. If a Tiny creature's reach is 0 feet, it must share a space with a creature in order to attack it.

You can move through the space of a willing creature. If you want to move through an unwilling creature's space, you can Tumble Through it. You can't end your turn in a square occupied by another creature, though you can end a move action in its square provided that you immediately use another move action to leave that square. If two creatures end up in the same square by accident, the GM determines which one is forced out of the square (or whether one falls prone).

When an effect forces you to move, or if you start falling, the distance you move is defined by the effect that moved you, not by your Speed. Forced movement doesn't trigger reactions that are triggered by movement. Some common causes of forced movement include the Reposition and Shove actions of Athletics or the solarian's Stellar Rush feat. In the rare cases where it's unclear whether your movement is voluntary or forced, the GM makes the determination.
If forced movement would move you into a space you can't occupy—because objects are in the way or because you lack the movement type needed to reach it, for example— you stop moving in the last space you can occupy.
Usually the creature or effect forcing the movement chooses the path the victim takes. If you're pushed or pulled, you can usually be moved through hazardous terrain, pushed out of an airlock, or the like. Abilities that reposition you in some other way can't put you in such dangerous places unless they specify otherwise. In all cases, the GM makes the final call if there's doubt on where forced movement can move a creature.
Some abilities allow a creature to move while carrying another along with it. This is forced movement for the carried creature. Unless noted otherwise, they both move on the same path while this happens—the carrying creature can't drag its victim through dangers while avoiding them itself, for example.