A common compass rose as is found on a nautical chart showing both true and magnetic north with magnetic declination

A compass rose is a figure displaying the orientation of the cardinal directions, north, south, east and west on a map or nautical chart. Today the use and idea of a compass rose is found on or featured in almost all navigation systems, including nautical charts, NDB and VOR systems, some GPS sets and similar. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1103x1163, 43 KB) Summary Modern Nautical Compass Rose. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1103x1163, 43 KB) Summary Modern Nautical Compass Rose. ... Portion of chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America. ... Compass rose with north highlighted and at top Look up North in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The magnetic declination (or magnetic variation) at any point on the earth is a property of the geomagnetic field defined as the angle that must be added or subtracted in converting between two kinds of directional information: the direction of the needle on a magnetic compass located there, and the... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the acronyms, see MAP and MAPS. A map is a symbolized depiction of a space which highlights relations between components (objects, regions, themes) of that space. ... Portion of chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America. ... Portion of chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America. ... A non-directional beacon (NDB) is a radio broadcast station in a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. ... D-VOR (Doppler VOR) ground station, co-located with DME. VOR, short for VHF Omni-directional Radio Range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...

History

A 16-point compass rose

Naming all 32 points on the rose is called boxing the compass. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A modern compass card. ...

Replica of a 32 points wind rose from a chart by Jorge de Aguiar (1492), the oldest known signed and dated Portuguese nautical chart

The "rose" term arises from the fairly ornate figures used with early compasses. A fleur-de-lis figure, evolved from the initial T in the north wind's name Tramontane, is sometimes used to indicate the north direction. Similarly, on old maps the east was marked with an L for Levante, or with a + indicating the direction of Jerusalem from the point of view of western Europe's countries. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Compass in a wooden box A compass (or mariners compass) is a navigational instrument for finding directions on the Earth. ... Fleurs-de-lys on the flag of Quebec The fleur-de-lis (also spelled fleur-de-lys; plural fleurs-de-lis or -lys) is used in heraldry, where it is particularly associated with the France monarchy (see King of France). ... Tramontane In Italy Tramontane is a wind that blows from the Alps and Apennines (South of the Alps) to the Italian coast. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ...

Early roses were depicted with 12 points at 30º each, as was favored by the Romans. In the Middle Ages map makers moved to the 16 point rose complaining that sailors did not have the education to understand the previous design. The 16 point rose has the uncomfortable number of 22 1/2º between points, but is easily found by halving divisions and may have been easier for those not using a 360º circle. Using gradians, the sixteen-point rose will have exactly twenty-five gradians per point. The grad is a measurement of plane angles of value 1/400 of a full circle, thus dividing a right angle in 100. ...

A Rose of the Winds is an ancient version of a compass rose which personified compass directions as winds with individual names, such as the west wind Zephyrus and the east wind Eurus. A fountain in Taranto, Italy was inspired by and named after the Rose of the Winds. Zephyr and Hyakinth; Attic red figure cup from Tarquinia, circa 480 BCE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts. ... Eurus, or Euros was a god in Greek mythology, one of the Anemoi the Winds, representing the unlucky east wind that brought warmth and rain. ... Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, southern Italy. ...

Modern depictions

The contemporary compass rose appears as two rings, one smaller and set inside the other. The outside ring denotes true cardinal directions while the smaller inside ring denotes magnetic cardinal directions. True north refers to the geographical location of the north pole while magnetic north refers to the direction towards which the south pole of a magnetic object (as found in a compass) will point. The angular difference between true and magnetic north is called variation, which varies depending on location. The angular difference between magnetic heading and compass heading is called deviation which varies by vessel and its heading. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... True Pizza is a navigational term referring to the direction of the North Pole relative to the navigators position. ... For other uses, see North Pole (disambiguation). ... This is about the geographic meaning of North Pole. ... Compass in a wooden box A compass (or mariners compass) is a navigational instrument for finding directions on the Earth. ... The magnetic declination (or magnetic variation) at any point on the earth is an angle that must be added or subtracted in converting between two kinds of directional information: the direction of the needle on a magnetic compass located there, and the direction of the earths lines of longitude. ... Magnetic deviation is the error induced in a compass by local magnetic fields, which must be allowed for if accurate bearings are to be calculated. ...

Pedro Reinel was the first person to draw a standard compass rose.

In popular media

HMS Compass Rose is the name of a fictional Royal Navy corvette in the novel The Cruel Sea. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... French steam corvette Dupleix (1856-1887) Canadian corvettes on antisubmarine convoy escort duty during World War II. A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate but larger than a coastal patrol craft. ... The cover of the UK 1956 paperback edition of: The Cruel Sea The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. ...

In the interactive fiction game, Beyond Zork, a compass rose is a flower that can control the direction of the wind. Zork I is one of the first interactive fiction games, as well as being one of the first commercially sold. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar...

The Compass Rose is the name of a significant tavern in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar fantasy novels. Mercedes Lackey (born June 24, 1950) (also known as Misty Lackey) is a prolific American author of fantasy novels. ... Velgarth is a fictional world created by author Mercedes Lackey, and is the setting for the Valdemar Universe series of books. ...

Gallery

Wind rose of an old nautical chart, by Portuguese cartographer Pedro Reinel (1504) Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Pedro Reinel(c. ...	An historic compass rose A mariners compass © Public Domain Davis, John. ...	An 8-point compass rose Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...	16-point compass rose with north highlighted at top A 16 point Compass Rose with North highlighted. ...
A 32-point compass rose Image File history File links Compass_Card. ...	The world's largest compass rose, drawn on the desert floor at Edwards Air Force Base in the US Download high resolution version (1280x948, 1068 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Edwards Air Force Base (IATA: EDW, ICAO: KEDW) is a United States Air Force airbase located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, 7 miles (11 km) due east of Rosamond. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Compass rose

• Origins of the Compass Rose
• The Rose of the Winds - An example of a rose with 26 directions.
• Wind rose
• Rose of Piedro Reinel, 1504 - an example of a 32-point rose with cross for east (the Christian Holy Land) and fleur-di-lis for north.