Reading wind charts standing upside down and thinking inside out.

[Fullblown]

Am I the only one out there that thinks like this, if I am I must be going mad. I just sent in a inquiry both to Willyweather and to Seabreeze, have a look at what i wrote and see if you agree or if I am mad give me advice on how I can better understand these wind charts, I would appreciate it. ( Hi, can you please change your wind arrow to truely show the wind direction that most people living on the east coast of Australia would understand. Everyone near the coast lives by the knowledge that most of our winds come generally from the east and so when looking at a computer screen would comprehend the effect of arrows pointing from the top of the computer screen to the bottom as a wind coming from the east, arrows pointing from left to right as wind direction from the north to south, ect. Your site would be so much more user friendly if wind direction was orientated this way, surely I'm not the only person in the east coast of Australia that thinks this way. In this age of computerization surely this orientation could be achieved and if you did this your ratings would no doubt go through the roof and that's all I got to say about the matter.)

[SatNav]

1. I would suggest you some more research so as to better understand map/compass orientation

2. On a map and fixed screen type orientation, North is up, East, South & West are relative to this. Arrows pointing from the top of the screen have been and always will be coming from the north, hence a northerly wind.

[Fullblown]

Well, it does look like I'm the only one who see's things my way, ha-ha and they say fishermen are dumb, nah, it seems like most are rocket scientists. I will leave this site never to return and go back to my cave. Cheers

[Johnm]

The conventional orientation for maps and charts is the top is North. I can see your point and maybe an option to reset the map to allow the top to be East could be considered but most people who read maps regularly would be used to the North up setting.

[bowds13]

Seriously mate, your first 2 posts after 4 years and you get upset an say you are leaving cause people don't agree with you.

Maybe some people like the traditional way it's set out.

Sorry if that statement upset you.... Again!

[banksmister]

.................................................. ....

[Noelm]

I don't exactly understand what you asked? But the... Maybe I am just a bit slow this morning, are you saying that the wind "arrows" do not point the way the wind blows, or the chart is not oriented to your liking? Everything is oriented to North up, for no real reason than there has to be a base to work to, and of course a compass always points north.

[airlock]

nah, north is up, think if eat was up i would get a headache.

[Triple]

can you please change your wind arrow to truely show the wind direction that most people living on the east coast of Australia would understand. Everyone near the coast lives by the knowledge that most of our winds come generally from the east and so when looking at a computer screen would comprehend the effect of arrows pointing from the top of the computer screen to the bottom as a wind coming from the east, arrows pointing from left to right as wind direction from the north to south, ect. Your site would be so much more user friendly if wind direction was orientated this way, surely I'm not the only person in the east coast of Australia that thinks this way.



What about the Western Australians? They have a hard enough time thinking as it is...
http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/500x/47260507.jpg

[Triple]

Everything is oriented to North up, for no real reason than there has to be a base to work to, and of course a compass always points north.

"Most early maps, before the wide-spread use of the compass, placed east at the top. This is generally thought to be due to the fact that the sun rises in the east. It was the most consistent directional maker.

Many cartographers show what they want to be the focus at the top of the map, and therefore, influence the orientation of the map. Many early Arab and Egyptian cartographers placed south at the top of the map because, having most of the world they knew of to the north of them, it drew the most attention to their area. Many early settlers of North America created maps with a west-east orientation that resulted from the direction that they primarily traveled and explored. Their own viewpoint greatly altered the orientation of their maps.

In the history of mapmaking, the general rule of thumb is whoever made the map is probably at the center or the top of it. This rings mostly true for centuries of mapmaking, but has been greatly influenced as well with European cartographers’ discovery of compasses and the magnetic north."

101600

[Dignity]

Fullblown, do you have a GPS and how have you got it set up.

That was excellent Triple, I didn't understand the logic of what Fullblown was asking. If Fullblown stands at the shore line on the East Coast and looks out to sea then his system is fine for him but if he was at Bathurst Bay then he would be looking North and the current set up would work but he would possibly be confused, then if he decides to travel to Freemantle he would be looking west and get even further confused and as he continues to travel further around Australia he would be looking South. Now I am confused.


I would vote to keep the current system as my GPS is also set up to North and I can easily relate to that, however if the GPS was setup to direction of travel then I would have trouble deciphering it where N,S,E or W was.

[Triple]

Thought this was interesting too..
"Egocentricity is having a view or perspective that revolves around you or your situation at the center. Thus, in cartography and geography, an egocentric society is one that places itself in either the center of a depiction of the world, or at the top. Information at the top of a map is commonly viewed as being both more visible and more significant.
Since Europe was a powerhouse in the world, producing both heavy exploration and the printing press – it was instinctual for European mapmakers to put Europe (and the Northern Hemisphere) as the focus at the top of maps. Today Europe and North America remain dominant cultural and economic forces, producing and influencing many maps – showing the Northern Hemisphere at the top of the map."

[Fullblown]

Yes, sorry for the dummy spit. You are all right and I will have to look at these charts with a different perspective. I tend to want everything to be more simpler in life as the world today is too complex, for me anyway. Anyway guys thanks for the wake up call and I wont leave this site as it is very informative. Cheers.

[Dignity]

FB, hang in there, we all started somewhere and have asked questions that to others seem odd. The reason I was asking how you had your GPS set up was that I originally had a hand held and it was set up to point in direction of travel as we used to use it at Fraser at night time on the beaches and it seemed more instinctive at the time however at sea when the wind and swell are throwing you about and you need to move to a small area I found this was rather difficult to predict how the boat was drifting and in which direction to steer as the whole screen would change direction constantly so I changed and am happy with the result, I can predict in which direction I need to move.

[Fullblown]

Thanks for the encouragement Dignity, when I first blogged It was about reading wind maps from web sites. I haven't even tried to use my boat gps system north up configuration yet, as this is the first time I've owned a chartplotter but will experiment over time. Cheers.