Where's North on Google Maps?

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roobarb

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#2989594 29-Oct-2022 21:39

kobiak:

true north != magnetic field north.

google and other maps points to true north.

True north, magnetic north and grid north.

Maps with grid-squares use grid north, if the eastings are parallel lines they can't all point to the pole.

floydbloke

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#2989618 30-Oct-2022 08:39

eracode:

floydbloke:

What do Tom Cruise and a compass have in common?😆

@floydbloke Can’t resist a bit more puerility (definitely not ‘peurality’). OK, I give up - what do Tom Cruise and a compass have in common?

@eracode Neither of them can handle the truth...............my puerile attempt might have been a bit too subtle

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

frankv

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#2990206 31-Oct-2022 16:49

rscole86: Based on this, I'd suggest True North.

https://airplaneacademy.com/are-winds-reported-in-true-or-magnetic-headings/

https://scientificsales.co.nz/blog/true-north-or-magnetic-north/

Winds are normally reported as True. However, at airfields they are reported in Magnetic, because runways are also numbered in degrees magnetic / 10, because 100 years ago pilots' only directional reference was a magnetic compass. As a pilot, you want to be landing into wind, and also know how much cross-wind you might have. So runway 25 is 250 degrees magnetic, or about 280 degrees true, depending where you are in NZ.

PolicyGuy

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#2990231 31-Oct-2022 17:31

frankv:

Winds are normally reported as True. However, at airfields they are reported in Magnetic, because runways are also numbered in degrees magnetic / 10, because 100 years ago pilots' only directional reference was a magnetic compass. As a pilot, you want to be landing into wind, and also know how much cross-wind you might have. So runway 25 is 250 degrees magnetic, or about 280 degrees true, depending where you are in NZ.

This is true, but there is the beginnings of agitation for this to change even in the aviation industry

As you might expect, this is not because the aviation industry - the last bastion of feet (height), miles (distance - they mean nautical miles btw), knots (speed) and inches of mercury (atmospheric pressure) - wishes at last to embrace the twentieth century, but for far more pragmatic reasons. This is because the North Magnetic Pole is moving very fast by historical standards, and this in turn means that the magnetic heading of many higher-latitude northern hemisphere runways is also changing, enough so that the airports need to change runway designations (e.g. from "01/17" to "02/19") every several years. This is really administratively aggravating as you have to change all the signage and all the published procedures, etc., which costs a lot of money and is quite difficult to get right as there are always places you forgot about where the old information is still sticking around.

cshwone

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#2990242 31-Oct-2022 18:05

Interesting runway directions, perhaps 01/19 and 02/20 would be a bit better 🙂

Another major factor is that for the last thirty years or so, aircraft navigation solutions are invariably giving a True Heading output (by the very nature of how they work ie how an IRS aligns), with the conversion to magnetic heading being done using a model.

roobarb

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#2992110 5-Nov-2022 07:42

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-63475943

A small village has made map reading history and become the first place where true, magnetic and grid north have met at a single point.

Tinkerisk

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#2992114 5-Nov-2022 07:51

roobarb:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-63475943

A small village has made map reading history and become the first place where true, magnetic and grid north have met at a single point.

Only for a few years … ;-)

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roobarb

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#2992118 5-Nov-2022 08:18

As the locals say: "Grid to Mag - Add, Mag to Grid - Get off my land!"

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