Editing Map (section)

==Orientation==
[[File:Hereford-Karte.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Hereford Mappa Mundi]]'', [[Hereford Cathedral]], England, {{circa|1300}}, a classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at the center, east toward the top, Europe the bottom left and Africa on the right]]
The orientation of a map is the geographical direction toward the top of the map. In the [[Middle Ages]] many Eurasian maps, including the [[T and O map]]s, were drawn with east at the top (meaning that the direction "up" on the map is eastward). The word "[[orient]]" is derived from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|oriens}}, meaning east. The modern cartographic convention is to put north at the top of a map. This convention is only a few hundred years old.<ref name="BBCWilliams">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Caroline |date=2016-06-15 |title=Maps have ‘north’ at the top, but it could’ve been different |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160614-maps-have-north-at-the-top-but-it-couldve-been-different |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

As no direction is inherently "up" on a spheroidal planet, a variety of orientations have been used on maps both historically and in the present day. Different factors may influence the preferred orientation of a map, depending both on its expected use and cultural factors affecting the perception of each direction. For instance, north and west had historically ''not'' been placed at the top of maps made in the Northern Hemisphere as these were the directions where the sun disappeared.<ref name="BBCWilliams" />

Many maps were oriented to place a particularly significant or holy site at the top. Early Islamic maps often placed south at the top because this was the direction of [[Mecca]] relative to the map-makers. Similarly, European Christian maps like the T-O map placed east at the top as this was the direction of the [[Garden of Eden]]. Early Chinese maps placed north at the top (despite most [[South-pointing chariot|Chinese compasses]] pointing south) due to the location of the imperial capital.<ref name="BBCWilliams" />

[[File:Atlas de Wit 1698-pl044-Utrecht-KB PPN 145205088.jpg|thumb|Map of [[Utrecht]], Netherlands (1695).]]

Other examples of maps with non-north orientations include:
* [[Portolan chart]]s are oriented to the shores they describe.
* Maps of cities bordering a sea are often conventionally oriented with the sea at the top.{{citation required|date=December 2024}}
* Route and channel maps have traditionally been oriented to the road or waterway they describe.{{citation required|date=December 2024}}
* [[Azimuthal equidistant projection|Polar maps]] of the [[Arctic]] or [[Antarctica|Antarctic]] regions are conventionally centered on the pole; the direction North would be toward or away from the center of the map, respectively. Typical maps of the Arctic have 0° meridian toward the bottom of the page; maps of the Antarctic have the 0° meridian toward the top of the page.
* [[South-up map orientation|South-up map]]s invert the ''North is up'' convention by having south at the top. Ancient Africans including in [[Ancient Egypt]] used this orientation, as some maps in Brazil do today.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://en.lisapoyakama.org/the-orientation-of-the-world-in-the-african-thought/ |title=The orientation of the world in the African thought |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=1 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701060939/http://en.lisapoyakama.org/the-orientation-of-the-world-in-the-african-thought/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Buckminster Fuller]]'s [[Dymaxion map]]s are based on a projection of the Earth's [[sphere]] onto an [[icosahedron]]. The resulting triangular pieces may be arranged in any order or orientation.
* [[Orienteering map]]s are oriented to [[magnetic north]].