Natural orientation in Dortmund, according to the   Munich Orientation Convention

  Dortmund has the option to be world's first city that has realized an international orientation standard, an idea from a Munichian inventor to simplify and harmonize worldwide all orientation means: signage, cartography, navigation devices and verbal expressions. 

Within this city, it is possible to find any target with easy brain work, that means 

- without maps, - without names,
- without illogical numbers  - without arrows
- without floor marks  - without square grids 
- without colors - without navigation devices

Buildings, crossings, stations etc. have logical addresses like

 
               TV tower "Florian" StatusQuo© Dortmund  m5:1 r18 

which are easy to understand if you associate the city with a clock as follows:

Around the Mayor House, the   

        centrum m0, 

the horizon is divided in 12 horizon hours  

     m1  to  m12

whereas m12 points to north.

Horizon hours are divided in horizon minutes, not as angles but as DISTANCES to the horizon hour, in steps of approx one "block of houses" or 100 meters. 

Example:     m3:5  

( read   "emm three point five"   or   "emm three five" ). 

The convention for the minutes is simply:

     the greater, the later
   
 
 

Considering the distance to m0 as r = radius also in steps of blocks of houses, logical position codes for targets, buildings, crossings etc. come into existence, e. g.: 

      Crossing m4:2 r10

In simple words:

"r" is a numbering starting FROM m0, 

"m" is a north-direction-based numbering AROUND m0  

and this simple methode covers a gigantic market gap: 

      l o g i c a l   and easy understandable  p o s i t i o n   codes

which will replace postal codes..

 

Natural Cartography©: a map with such a polar grid has innovative characteritics, see www.volksnav.com/map  

Please be aware about the fact that above mentioned location TV tower Florian is outside of the map but for the first time it is possible to imagine where it is! 

 

Orientators©: the signage of the future: 

         Orientator©

StatusQuo© addresses will be integrated within the existing signage, see www.volksnav.com/lollipop  or be indicated on so-called Orientators©. 

Vertical Pointing©: additionally, round and square symbols (called pointers) will be placed on their periphery and shall help to detect the directions m0  respectively m12, according to the following convention: 
 
if the pointer is placed on top m0 will be in front of you
  on bottom   behind
  right hand   right hand

etc. Acc. to the same convention, a square symbol points to north = m12. The picture above reveals that north = m12 is behind and m0, the Mayor House, is on right side. 

 

Navigation / Volksnav©:

The local navigation with the help of such codes is called VolksNav©. As proceeded today with house numbers, VolksNav© is nothing else than the major/minor comparison between "r" and "m" values: 

Simply proceed according to 1 -2 -3 : 

1 - 

Positioning

 

  

Turn your body until m0 will be BEHIND. In this position, 

ahead will be outwards
right hand " to later (clockwise)
left hand " to earlier

etc. 

Beginners have to turn physically, after some exercises anyone will be able to do this by his imagination power. In case you look at above shown Orientator©, you'd have to turn to left, correct? 

2 - 

r-comparison

 

Ask yourself:         

must I move inwards or outwards? 

 ( = is the target radius greater or smaller than the actual one?)
3 - 

m-comparison

 

Ask yourself:      

must I move to “later” (clockwise) or to earlier?  

( = is the target m later or earlier than the actual one?)

 

Let's exercise with the example shown on the picture above: 

 

If the position code of your target Florian  is given as       m5:1 r18  

and you've lost orientation on crossing                            m4:2 r10, 

so you must go

- outwards ( r18 is greater than actual r10 )

and

- to "later" (clockwise)   ( m5 is "later"  than m4 )

 

This may seem to be unfamiliar, but the orientation based on cardinal points is used since some thousand years and imaginary clocks are used by soldiers, boy scouts, pilots, blind people etc. for more than 100 years. On a real situation, VolksNav© can be learned within few minutes in a life time. 

For advancers: the minutes will never exceed half the radius (!!) and the middle of the sector is always r/4.

 

Vision:

Natural World Co-ordinates: the same addressing methode will soon also be used indoor, see www.volksnav.com/deutschesmuseum and within the whole globe, see  www.watchrose.com. Acc. to this, the international City Code of Dortmund is 

          WatchRose© m10:195 r480

What is that good for? Just comparing the WatchRoses©, you can imagine distances and directions between 2 locations. 

 

Example:    Elmenhorst    WatchRose© m10:200  r485, 

Result of comparison: Elmenhorst  is farer and "later" to Munich than Dortmund, more exactly:

-    radius 485 - r480 = 5 km farer

-    :200 - :195 = 5 km "later" 

The distance between both locations, the hipotenuse, will be between 5 and 5+5 km   

for advanced users only: 

the direction Dortmund / Helmenhorst (to outside / to later) is QuoVides® 11,   see www.quovides.com 

 

mobile applications: very soon also mobile phones will indicate such logical position codes, see www.volksnav.com/london .