# Do you/should you turn the map upside down when heading south? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555 "2011-09-25T15:00:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/61 "2011-09-27T18:01:22Z")
With a road map or street map, no. These basically give just two-dimensional information so it’s generally only necessary to know where to go left or right. They are simple enough to use that orientating the map isn’t necessary. Navigating in the back country with a topo map (especially when bushwhacking off trails)? Of course. Here you need to process three-dimensional info, and evaluate exactly which angle to proceed rather than just going left or right. Given that orienting the map is easy to do and assists visualizing the route, there’s no reason not to do it. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/62 "2011-09-27T18:35:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Navigating in the back country with a topo map (especially when bushwhacking off trails)? Of course. Here you need to process three-dimensional info, and evaluate exactly which angle to proceed rather than just going left or right. Given that orienting the map is easy to do and assists visualizing the route, there’s no reason not to do it. I’ll give you “there’s no reason not to do it” because if you like to do it that’s fine, but, there is also, no reason to do it. You should be navigating with your compass, not with your map. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/63 "2011-09-27T19:53:03Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I don’t understand why you need a map if you have directions. The map is used to figure out your directions. Once you know them, what good is looking at the map? You already know that, when you’ve gone about X miles, you look at the street signs until you find the one you are supposed to turn on. What does the map give you that the directions do not? A map lets you know if you missed your turn or not by allowing you to check against the cross street you’re currently on. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/64 "2011-09-27T20:17:49Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I think this is probably it. I don’t have a strong grasp of left and right. I very often have to think about which side is “right” using thoughts like “Which hand do I write with? Oh, that one, that one’s the right.” When considering what is “clockwise” I have to bring up an image in my mind of a clock, and consider the direction of the hands, before being certain. > > If I’m under stress so my thoughts aren’t very focused and someone says “turn right!!” My brain can freeze and I’m just as likely to turn left. > > Oddly – or maybe not – I have exceptional “place memory” and navigational sense for places I have been before, even if it has been decades since I was there last. And this makes sense. I can see why one would want to rotate maps if this is how one’s brain works because then one doesn’t have to figure out whether it’s right or left, just line it up and turn in that direction. > [@BigT](#): > > I don’t understand why you need a map if you have directions. The map is used to figure out your directions. Once you know them, what good is looking at the map? You already know that, when you’ve gone about X miles, you look at the street signs until you find the one you are supposed to turn on. What does the map give you that the directions do not? That was sort of poorly stated by me. I’d use a map to figure out directions, and by having it oriented North, I immediately know I might, say, go North on I-95. Where the orientation comes in is, as one is navigating, in figuring out whether going North on I-95 is a right or a left; if I’m headed East, it’s a left and if I’m headed West, it’s a right. And liked **Brown Eyed Girl** mentions, it’s not like I would look at the map, write down the directions, then not look at it again. Instead, I use it as I’m navigating and I want to know major cross streets and all that sort of thing. So, as I’m approaching a turn, my “directions” are what I figured out when I first looked at the map and plotted my course. And even if I got directions from someone, they’re usually not a whole lot of good since most people don’t give enough detail. If I get “turn right on Maple”, how do I know when I might have missed the turn? When do I turn around if I missed it. Tons of times I’ve gotten directions like that and felt like I went way to far and, just as I’m about to look for a place to turn around, I see it. I still like to look up directions on a map so I can get that sort of information. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/65 "2011-09-27T20:32:10Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > For those of you who don’t rotate the map, in your internal map, is north always up? > > I don’t need to rotate the map, it’s just easier and one less thing to think about when I’m navigating. When I’m picturing an area in my head, I’ll usually make the most important street horizontal - and since the grids in this city are kind of weird, north could be anywhere. For me, it depends. With real world examples, I pick major streets and use them as reference points. So, for example, my internal map is more or less oriented such that that major road is in a certain way, like using local examples, I-95 is N/S or I-66 is E/W, and everything is relative to that. This can get a bit disorienting for some roads that turn a lot, and though I can usually account for that, on a road like I-495, but knowing what the orientation of most of the cross roads is, so I just use those to know where I am (eg, I’m at I-66/I-95, I’m at about 9 o’clock, I’m headed N/S). With other examples, my internal map will orient to some sort of important landmark. For instance, in most buildings, I usually orient the main entrance as the equivalent of “South”. Or if I’m at, say, a concert or movie, the stage or screen is “North”. Or with sports, if I’m watching, the field is “East/West”, but if I’m playing, it’s “North/South”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/66 "2011-09-28T01:42:43Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I’ll give you “there’s no reason not to do it” because if you like to do it that’s fine, but, there is also, no reason to do it. You should be navigating with your compass, not with your map. Sorry, this doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you are able to memorize your map. At least in the situations I find myself in, in mountains covered in dense rainforest, you won’t be following a compass bearing for more than a short distance. I navigate primarily using the topo lines; I scarcely refer to compass bearings at all. I’m much more concerned about how the ridges/drainages connect than which direction is north. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/67 "2011-09-28T02:52:11Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > There’s a reason that GPS devices always rotate the image to show you the map in the direction you’re going. A GPS in 3D mode (with the top being the direction you’re going) is not functioning the same way as a map does. You’re using it for turn by turn directions which a map does not do. I always kept my GPS in that orientation while driving, but if I had to stop and study the map, I always looked at it with North up. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/68 "2011-09-28T19:17:55Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > A GPS in 3D mode (with the top being the direction you’re going) is not functioning the same way as a map does. You’re using it for turn by turn directions which a map does not do. Several people have said something like this, but you’re assuming a use that’s not a given. If you turn a map and look at it for each turn, then it _is_ being used just like a GPS, and it’s quite useful in that way. It’s probably not good to do so while you’re driving because staring at and manipulating a piece of paper a lot is hard to do while paying attention to the road. But if you’re navigating, you certainly can. And I do. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/69 "2011-09-28T20:00:23Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I’m a forester and I don’t understand why you would orient the map to north. Any transfer of information between the map and the real world is thru your compass. North is pretty arbitrary if you have a good compass. The print is going to be “oriented” to some cardinal point, and north is the one that’s usually chosen. Yes, it’s arbitrary, but to be reading the print from all different directions could be confusing or lead to mis-reading. As long as you’ve decided to read the map from one orientation, it makes sense to stick with that one, whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555/70 "2011-09-28T23:16:47Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I think this is probably it. I don’t have a strong grasp of left and right. I very often have to think about which side is “right” using thoughts like “Which hand do I write with? Oh, that one, that one’s the right.” When considering what is “clockwise” I have to bring up an image in my mind of a clock, and consider the direction of the hands, before being certain. > > If I’m under stress so my thoughts aren’t very focused and someone says “turn right!!” My brain can freeze and I’m just as likely to turn left. > > Oddly – or maybe not – I have exceptional “place memory” and navigational sense for places I have been before, even if it has been decades since I was there last. I think you’re me. I also have a lot of difficulty using a map the first time I visit a place, once I have seen what the map represents it’s a lot easier to use it. In fact if I pore over the map following my first visit, seeing where I went, the next time’s a doddle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-should-you-turn-the-map-upside-down-when-heading-south/597555.md?page=3)