VolksNav© in Singapore

Singapore 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, postal codes, 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 colors	- without compass or other navigation devices

Buildings, crossings, stop points, bridges etc. have logical addresses like

                       Alexandra hospital StatusQuo^© SGP m8 r39
                       Harbour Front station                        m6:15 r45
                       Changi Airport                                  m2:30 r185

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

An outstanding point as e. g. the Orchard was (will be) defined as a pole m0.

Around this pole, the horizon is divided in 12 "horizon hours"

m1 to m12

, whereas m12 points to north.

This divides the city as a cake in 12 imaginary sectors. As an example, the sector m8 was marked.

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

Example

m3:10 ( read "emm 3 point 10" or "emm three 10" ).

This is a line situated in a distance of 10 x 100m from the horizon hour m3, which points to sunrise.

The convention for horizon minutes is very simple:

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. as shown on the picture:

crossing StatusQuo© m9:5 r40

StatusQuo means "where you are". In simple words:

"r" is a numbering starting FROM m0,

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

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 . Please be aware about the fact that if the target isn't on map, with the help of the logical position code it's possible to imagine where it is situated !!

Interesting details:

- the search grid contains quadrangules similar to the conventional ones. The picture above shows a white quadrangule with the dimensions 1 km x 1 km. The bended sides let know in which direction the urban pole is situated, even if the centre isn't on map.

- the width of the sector is half the radius !! Example: m7:5 r10, m7:10 r20 etc..

- the middle of the sector is radius/4. Example: m7:5 r20

A natural location map would look like this:

finance

or like this:

finance4 Source: www.openstreetmap.org

Other logical addresses (clockwise):

	horizon hour	horizon minutes	radius
SingPost	m2	:20	r71
City Hall station	m4		r25
City Hall	m4	:2	r26 direction from City Hall station to here: to later and to outside
Mirage tower	m5	:4	r13
Alkaff bridge	m5		r17
Monetary authority	m5	:2	r36
Accident and emergency hospital	m5	:12	r28
Merlion	m6	:15	r57
Mount Faber point	m7		r37
International business Park	m9	:25	r95
Nanyang circle	m9	:45	r170
..

St. John's island	m5	:25	r90
Pedra Branca lighthouse	m3	:310	r640

.Metro stations:

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, the pole is right hand

Orientator©

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 see an example:

and you've lost orientation on crossing m9:5 r40,

so you must go

- outwards ( r75 is more than r40 )

and

- to "later" (clockwise) ( m9:30 is "later" than m9:5 )

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.

In a real situation, VolksNav© can be learned within few minutes, that means, faster than the most seeking times. Then you'll be able to navigate everywhere as elegant as around the Christus statue in Rio de Janeiro, where the idea of a quantified polar orientation and an orientation standard was born.