Cardinal direction
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the direction of rotation and west being directly opposite. Intermediate points between the four cardinal directions form the points of the compass. The intermediate (intercardinal, or ordinal) directions are north-east (NE), south-east (SE), south-west (SW), and north-west (NW).
On Earth, upright observers facing north will have south behind them, east on their right, and west on their left. Most devices and methods for orientation therefore operate by finding north first, although any other direction is equally valid, if it can be reliably located. Several of these devices and methods are described below.
See also
- Azimuth
- Boxing the compass for all thirty-two English-named internationally-used principal points of the compass.
- Elevation – the mapping information ignored by the cardinal point system
- Geocaching – a international hobby
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Latitude and Longitude
- List of cartographers – about famous cartographers through history
- List of international common standards
- Magnetic deviation – to understand why a compass does not align perfectly with the Earth's north and south poles.
- Orienteering – to learn about an internationally popular hobby and sport that depends on the above knowledge for success.
- Uses of trigonometry
