Just realized I'd been reading old maps upside down for 10 years

I was looking at a 1950s road map of Texas last night and couldn't figure out why the Rio Grande was on the wrong side of the state borders. Took me a solid 5 minutes before I noticed the compass rose was pointing south at the top of the page, not north. Has anyone else had a map totally mess with your sense of direction like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

simonp4022d ago

Used to think maps with south at the top were some kind of joke or prank. Then I found an old map of Australia from the 1800s where the compass was pointing down instead of up. It completely wrecked my brain for a week! Now I actually understand why some people prefer those maps. They make you look at geography in a totally different way, like seeing your own town from a new angle. I still get confused for a minute when I open one, but it's worth the headache.

bailey.sam22d ago

Actually that's not quite how compasses work... the compass needle still points north no matter which way the map is turned, it's the map itself that's been flipped around. Those old Australian maps were likely drawn that way because the cartographers wanted to center their known world at the top, not because the compass literally pointed down. It really messes with your sense of direction though, I still find myself rotating my phone when I look at one.