Natural orientation in Karlsruhe, according to the Munich Orientation Convention.    

Karlsruhe 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 (will be) 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 colours - without compass  - without navigation devices

Targets, crossings, squares, stations, bus stops, bridges etc. have logical addresses like

 
       University  StatusQuo© KRHE m9:5 r22    

which are easy to understand if you associate the city with a clock according to following convention:

The castle Karlsruhe is defined as the  

    centrum m0 

Around this pole, the horizon is divided in 12 directions   

     m1  to  m12

These m-directions are also called horizon hours and m12 points to north. 

Horizon hours are divided in horizon minutes, not as angles but as DISTANCES to the horizon hour, in steps of 1 "block of houses", approx. 100 m or yd. 

    Example:  m4:5  

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

This is the code for an imaginary line which is parallel to the m4 line in a distance of 5 "blocks". The convention for the minutes is simply:

 THE GREATER, THE LATER 

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

               crossing StatusQuo© KRHE m7:6 r15

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.

 

Natural Cartography©: 

a map with such a polar grid has innovative characteritics, see www.volksnav.com/map . Be aware that the mentioned location of the University m9:5 r22 is outside of the map but with the help of the location code it is possible to imagine where it is !!.

Another innovative characteristic: the grid can be zoomed from zero to infinite, see example location map Geofabrik www.geofabrik.de:

.

Signage:

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

Vertical Pointing©: additional to the position information, a round symbol called center or pole pointer will be placed on their periphery to allow to detect the direction m0  according to the following conventions: 

if the pointer is placed on top          (f12) m0 will be in front of you     (f12)
  on bottom     (f6)   behind          (f6)
  right hand     (f3)   right hand     (f3)

etc. Acc. to the same convention, a square symbol points to north = m12.  The picture reveils: m12 is behind (f6), the castle is right hand (f3)

            Orientator© 

 

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  

physical

or

mental

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? 

 ( in other words: 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?  

( in other words: is the target m later or earlier than the actual one?)

Let's see an example shown on picture: 

If your target is:         m9:5 r22  

and you've lost orientation on crossing     m7:6 r15, 

so you must move

- outwards ( r22 is more than actual  r15 )

and

- to "later" (clockwise)   ( m9  is "later"  than m7 )

This may seem to be unfamiliar, but the orientation based on cardinal points is used for 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, that means, faster than the most seeking times. 

 

Vision:

Natural World Co-ordinates: the same addressing methode can also be used indoor, see www.volksnav.com/tugarching and within the whole globe, see  www.watchrose.com. 

Acc. to this, the international City Code of Karlsruhe is:  

            WatchRose© m9:100 r250 

Just comparing this code for example with 

             Bruchsal WatchRose© m9:115 r245  r245 

 it is possible to evaluate that 

- the position of Bruchsal is "later" and closer to Munich than Karlsruhe, more exactly:

:115 - :100 = 15 km later

radius250 - r245 = 5 km closer

- the distance between both locations, the hipotenuse, is about 16 km 

- for advanced users: the direction Karlsruhe / Bruchsal (inwards, to later) is QuoVides® 1, see www.quovides.com    

 
Mobile applications:

Very soon also navigation devices and mobile phones will indicate such logical position codes and cardinal points , see www.volksnav.com/mobile

You're invited to download the demo program for pocketPC with/without GPS from www.volksnav.com.