Re:Death by GPS
by schiffern on Sunday May 08, 2016 @09:31PM
(#11657003)
I live in the northern hemisphere, and wish more maps supported "South up." Maybe I'm weird, but in my mental map I expect the light (the sun) to be at the top of the page.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
There's no maybe. You're weird. Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up have North at the top of the page. However, you would be right at home in this segment of West Wing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1bZ0F3zVU
>Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up have North at the top of the page.
Heh, you say that as if I didn't know! ;)
I'm sure you've noticed that in computer UIs, all the "3D" effects are based on the sun being at the top. Same with geography -- it's easier for me to visualize the terrain if the sun is at the top. That means South-up in the northern hemisphere, and North-up in the southern hemisphere.
Always fun to watch that West Wing clip.
My navigation application supports rotating the map with double touch. You can put it whatever-you-want-up. This is probably rather common in other applications. You might then be a bit confused if you have to look a conventional north-up map...