Find Your Way: The Compass Rose

Imagine you are standing in the middle of a huge park. A friend shouts: 'Meet me at the big oak tree!' You look around — there are trees in every direction. How do you know which way to go? People have solved this problem for thousands of years by using directions. Before we start, think about this: have you ever heard someone say 'go north' or 'head south'? What did they mean?

A compass rose is a diagram that shows directions. You will find one printed on most maps. It looks like a star or a flower with pointed arms reaching outward. The four main directions are called the cardinal directions. Starting at the top and going clockwise they are: North (N), East (E), South (S), and West (W). A great trick to remember them in order is the sentence: 'Never Eat Soggy Waffles' — the first letter of each word matches N, E, S, W going clockwise. Between the four cardinal directions sit four more directions. These are called ordinal directions (sometimes called intercardinal directions). They are: • North-East (NE) — halfway between North and East • South-East (SE) — halfway between South and East • South-West (SW) — halfway between South and West • North-West (NW) — halfway between North and West All eight directions together form a full compass rose. How do we use it on a real map? Look at a simple map of Africa. Egypt is in the north-east of the continent. South Africa is in the south. Nigeria sits to the west of the centre. By using compass directions, you can describe exactly where any country or city sits in relation to another. On a flat map, North is almost always toward the top of the page. This is a global agreement that map-makers follow so that everyone reads maps the same way.