Map & Compass – Notes on architecture 14
City and country paper maps usually have north towards the top of the sheet. Paper is portable and will be used in many locations – it can be turned around. Likewise computer maps default to north on top. At the larger scale, and in these formats, the convention of north up is one that most people get – but it is still only a convention. In architectural drawings, this is a usual option but certainly not the definitive rule. In subway or local street maps , the top of the map may be oriented in the actual direction one is facing as one is looking at the map. It becomes a simpler diagram to understand – if my destination is shown to the right on the map – that is the direction I need to go. The fixedness of the subway or local map, its intended purpose, along with the scale and nature of the environment, promote the shifted layout. The map is turned around for us.
Like the convention of having city and country maps with north towards the top, the random north of local maps is something that one intuitively understands. One question would be whether we would develop a more consolidated and integrated mental map of our neighborhood and and extended environment, if local maps used a consistent convention.
