Apr 18 2008
West is not Left, North is not Up
I’ve been grading exams again. Of course that means I’ve been wanting to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills concurrent with a bottle of vodka. I’ve resisted the urge, and with less than 10% left to go, the end is in sight. One thing that seems to be fairly prevalent is the thought that the cardinal directions West and East are synonyms for left and right, respectfully. I’m not sure where exactly that comes from, but for fun, let’s blame cartographers. On every map I’ve ever seen, North is at the top. This means that West is on the left, East is on the right, and South is at the bottom.
But the Earth is a sphere. This is no absolute direction that corresponds to up, down, left, right, forward, or backward. Those directions are dependent upon your particular orientation. At this very moment, I am facing North, so to my left is the West. But if I swivel 180 degrees (or π radians) in my chair, now East is on my left.
I can see how the relative directions could be preferable in some situations. If I’m standing on the South Pole, every direction is North. But I still can uniquely define left and right. But I don’t live at the poles, and odds are nobody reading this blog entry is either.
But what gets me more than West/Left is when someone refers to the direction North on a map as ‘up’. Argh. Up is above your head. North can never be above your head unless you’re laying down. When giving directions, up is never an option. Unless you’re giving directions to an astronaut.
Because we live on an almost spherical planet, we can map it in any direction we want. The Northern Hemisphere does not need to be at the top. Each of the following four maps is equally valid.
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Why do we insist on placing North at the top of the map? Is it more convenient to know that North is ‘up’?
(9 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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4 Responses to “West is not Left, North is not Up”
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Indeed so. Down where I live, we have a different perspective:
http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/
I would differ on the E-W up down side. The Earth spins, and the spin has a direction (you can assume left or right handed rule. . .nothing more fun than doing physics in left handed coordinates, drives the prof. nuts, tho you better do it right)
It seems fairly obvious to me: N must be up because any other way round you can’t read the writing on the map
Meanwhile, I *have* seen maps with S at the top: http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/ for example. Predictably enough, there is a wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversed_map
this is actually a response to your ‘West is not Left, North is not Up’ piece, posted on 4/18/08… it is too late to comment on it directly, and the ‘contact’ page said ‘Comments are closed…’ and told me ‘Method Not Allowed’ when i tried to send this to you… i would appreciate any feedback…
North is not ‘up’ / south is not ‘down’!
We’ve been taught to believe Earth’s axis is ‘vertical’, the north pole is the ‘top’ of Earth, the south pole is the ‘bottom’, north is ‘up’ and south is ‘down’ - leading us to say “I’m going down to Brazil” or “I’m going up to Alaska”. This belief is completely erroneous. This blatantly erroneous belief stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of ‘vertical’ which is integral in understanding ‘up/down’, ‘top/bottom’, ‘high/low’, ‘above/below’ and ‘over/under. The dictionary defines an ‘axis’ as: an imaginary line about which an object rotates; and it defines ‘vertical’ as: ‘any line perpendicular (90º) to the horizon (‘horizontal’)’ - so a vertical line is, in effect, any line that radiates out from the center of Earth because it is perpendicular to the horizon. The crucial thing to understand is that a vertical line defines up/down (perpendicular to the horizon) - not north/south. ‘Down’ is the direction towards the center of Earth while ‘up’ is the direction away from Earth. All vertical lines have a bottom and top.
Imagine an infinite number of vertical lines (‘spokes’) radiating out in all directions from the center of Earth, perpendicular to the horizon where they pass through Earth’s surface. Every point on Earth has an imaginary vertical line passing through it emanating from the center of Earth. All these lines radiating from the center of Earth define ‘vertical’ (down/up, bottom/top) because each is perpendicular to the horizon. Whenever we measure the height/depth of anything we are using a part of one of these imaginary vertical lines. Typically, the ‘bottom’ of a vertical line we are using to measure height/depth will be the end point on the imaginary line closest to the center of Earth, while the ‘top’ is the end point furthest away from the center of Earth. But the true bottom of all vertical lines is the center of Earth.
We’ve been taught the ‘top’ of Earth’s ‘vertical’ axis is the north pole, and the ‘bottom’ is the south pole. NOT! The bottom of any vertical line is the center of Earth, so if Earth’s axis is ‘vertical’ how can the south pole be the ‘bottom? The answer is: the south pole can’t be the ‘bottom’ because Earth’s axis is not vertical! Earth’s axis is just an axis (not a ‘vertical’ axis) that is composed of two vertical lines! But we must understand that two vertical lines radiating from the center of a planet do not make a ‘vertical’ axis - they just make an axis! Again: Earth does not have ‘a vertical axis’ - Earth just has an axis composed of two vertical lines! The bottom of each vertical line is the center of Earth and the top of each vertical line is the ‘pole’ where it intersects the surface of Earth. So the south and north poles are the tops of two separate vertical lines, and even though the length of one of these vertical lines may be ‘longer/higher’, that doesn’t make that pole the ‘top’ of Earth - it just makes it a longer vertical line.
We now know Earth’s axis is not ‘vertical’, but is actually two separate vertical lines - with the top of each vertical line at the two poles. Now imagine two more vertical lines radiating out from the center of Earth, connecting at the center of Earth to form a straight line perpendicular (90º) to Earth’s axis, with the ends of these two vertical lines intersecting any opposite points on Earth’s equator. Visualize the perfect cross these four identical vertical lines now create within Earth - and understand that the bottom of each of these four vertical lines is the center of Earth and the top of each line is where it intersects the surface of Earth. Now imagine you’re standing on the north pole looking straight down (towards the center of Earth) and your best friend is standing on the south pole also looking towards the center of Earth. What direction is your friend looking - ‘up’ or ‘down’? Down, obviously. So who’s ‘on top’ if you’re both looking down towards each other? Before we find out, imagine you’re each standing on one of the tops of the other two vertical lines intersecting opposite points of the equator - and again, you’re both looking straight down toward each other. Who’s on ‘top’ now? To find out who’s on ‘top’ - i.e. who is ‘higher’ - you’d have to measure each vertical line from the center of Earth to its ‘top’. The bottom (or is it top) line is this: Earth’s axis and its poles only refer to ‘top/bottom’, ‘up/down’, ‘high/low’, ‘over/under’, ‘above/below’ relative to their separate vertical lines.
The definition of ‘top’ is: the highest point of something. So the ‘top’ of Earth is that point on Earth which is the highest - i.e. furthest from the center of Earth using a vertical (up/down) line to measure. Due to the equatorial bulge of 26.5 miles, the highest vertical point on Earth measuring from the center of Earth - i.e. the top of Earth - is Mount Chimborazo, in Ecuador in the Andes (beating Everest by 8800 feet - however, since the ocean also bulges, Everest is the highest above sea level). But this Chimborazo ‘top’ doesn’t necessarily hold true in space. Take a beach ball with a bulge on one side and throw it up in the air so it is spinning - what/where is the ‘top’ of the beach ball? The ‘top’ now depends on when you ask the question, as the ‘top’ of the ball is continually changing while the ball is spinning (unless its axis is perfectly vertical - and yes, the axis could be down/up vertical). Now imagine yourself floating in space gazing at Earth - what/where is the ‘top’ of Earth? In space there are no vertical lines - ‘down/up’ and ‘bottom/top’ are all relative space. The ‘top’ of Earth is determined by your orientation facing Earth and when you ask the question - unless Earth’s axis is lined up perfectly with your axis, then either pole could be the ‘top’.
The earth is the third planet from the sun. Anything wrong with that sentence? Most people say nothing is wrong with it. A few may notice that ‘earth’, a proper noun and name of a planet, should be capitalized - and they are correct. The Venus is the second planet from the sun. Anything strange with that sentence? Everyone now notices ‘The Venus’, as it violates a fundamental rule of English and also sounds strange. Earth is the name of a planet, like Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Why do you never use ‘the’ preceding the names of the other planets - or preceding the names of your friends and family? Why do most people say ‘the earth’ when talking about our planet? It is not only rude but it depersonalizes the living Being we live on, Earth, perpetuating the belief Earth is just a lifeless rock and prolonging the deranged desecration of our home-land planet in the name of profit and convenience.
It is time to stop thinking in terms of who is on top. To this end, displaying images of Earth on a horizontal axis is the most balanced way to view Earth, as Earth’s rotation ensures no one is permanently ‘on top’. On a horizontal axis if you’re ‘on top’ now, 12 hours later you’re ‘on the bottom’. Can you imagine the U.S. on the bottom? To help initiate the quantum leap into Global Consciousness, imagine looking at Earth from different perspectives as if you were floating in space. And while you’re there looking at this beautiful blue-green jewel slowly turning in space, notice the absence of artificial, political ‘borders’ separating humanity into equally artificial ‘countries’.
Imagine EARTH is the ‘homeland’ - one PLANET indivisible
Imagine there are NO ‘countries’ - think BIO-REGIONS
[Reply: I don't have time to correctly moderate this right now. But in time it will be moved to the correct thread. Thanks for the feedback about the feedback form not working, I'll look into that too.]