COMPASS

Cardinal point" redirects here. For other uses, see Cardinal point (disambiguation).

A compass rose showing the four cardinal directions, the four intercardinal directions, and eight more
divisions.

The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, south, east,
and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, S, E, and W respectively. Relative to north, the
directions east, south, and west are at 90 degree intervals in the clockwise direction.

The ordinal directions (also called the intercardinal directions) are northeast (NE), southeast (SE),
southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). The intermediate direction of every set of intercardinal and
cardinal direction is called a secondary intercardinal direction. These eight shortest points in the
compass rose shown to the right are:

West-northwest (WNW)

North-northwest (NNW)

North-northeast (NNE)

East-northeast (ENE)

East-southeast (ESE)

South-southeast (SSE)

South-southwest (SSW)

West-southwest (WSW)

Points between the cardinal directions form the points of the compass. Arbitrary horizontal directions
may be indicated by their azimuth angle value.

Determination

This section is an excerpt from Direction determination.[edit]

Direction determination refers to the ways in which a cardinal direction or compass point can be
determined in navigation and wayfinding. The most direct method is using a compass (magnetic
compass or gyrocompass), but indirect methods exist, based on the Sun path (unaided or by using a
watch or sundial), the stars, and satellite navigation.[1]
Additional points

See also: Points of the compass § Compass points

Degrees of rotation

The directional names are routinely associated with the degrees of rotation in the unit circle, a
necessary step for navigational calculations (derived from trigonometry) and for use with Global
Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers. The four cardinal directions correspond to the following degrees of
a compass:

North (N): 0° = 360°

East (E): 90°

South (S): 180°

West (W): 270°

Intercardinal directions

The intercardinal (intermediate, or, historically, ordinal[2]) directions are the four intermediate compass
directions located halfway between each pair of cardinal directions.

Northeast (NE), 45°, halfway between north and east, is the opposite of southwest.

Southeast (SE), 135°, halfway between south and east, is the opposite of northwest.

Southwest (SW), 225°, halfway between south and west, is the opposite of northeast.

Northwest (NW), 315°, halfway between north and west, is the opposite of southeast.

These eight directional names have been further compounded known as tertiary intercardinal
directions, resulting in a total of 32 named points evenly spaced around the compass: north (N), north
by east (NbE), north-northeast (NNE), northeast by north (NEbN), northeast (NE), northeast by east
(NEbE), east-northeast (ENE), east by north (EbN), east (E), etc.

Usefulness

With the cardinal points thus accurately defined; by convention cartographers draw standard maps with
north (N) at the top, and east (E) at the right. In turn, maps provide a systematic means to record where
places are, and cardinal directions are the foundation of a structure for telling someone how to find
those places. Additionally, in most languages this same cardinal-relative mapping is sometimes used in
everyday usage when the speaker uses the cardinal directional term instead of the corresponding body
relative directional term, even though a relative directional term already exists in that language.
That being said, in cartography north does not have to be at the top. Most maps in medieval Europe, for
example, placed east (E) at the top.[3] A few cartographers prefer south-up maps. Many portable GPS-
based navigation computers today can be set to display maps either conventionally (N always up, E
always right) or with the current instantaneous direction of travel, called the heading, always up (and
whatever direction is +90° from that to the right).

In Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, each direction of travel along a numbered highway is
assigned a cardinal direction. This cardinal direction may not necessarily match the road's orientation at
every given location (see Wrong-way concurrency).