Natural orientation in Taipei,                  

      according to the Munich Orientation Convention                   中文              other cities

Taipei 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 Taipei, 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

 
       Snake Alley  StatusQuo© Taipei m7:2 r25    

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

The Presidential Office 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. 

    Example:  m3:10  

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

This is the code for an imaginary line which is parallel to the m3 line in a distance of 10 "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© Taipei m8:3 r12

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.

 

Other points of interest:

Grand Hotel m1:5 r52
Martyrs Shrine m1:10 r58
Palace Museum m12:36 r78
Shihlin Night Market m12:12 r55
Sungshan Airport m1:20 r48
Lungshan Temple m8:3 r12
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall m4 r9
East Gate m3 r5
Taipei Railway Station m1 r10
Taipei 101 m3:8 r53
Chiang Kai-shek International Airport  m9:40 r285

 

Natural Cartography©: 

a map with such a polar grid has innovative characteristics, see www.volksnav.com/map . Be aware that the mentioned location Snake Alley  m7:2 r25 is outside of the map but it is possible to imagine where it is !!.

 

Orientators©, the signage of the future

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

Vertical Pointing©: additional to the position information, a round symbol called center 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 m0 will be in front of you
  on bottom   behind
  right hand   right hand

           Orientator©

etc. Acc. to the same convention, a square symbol points to north = m12. 

The picture above reveils: m12 is behind, the Presidential Office is right hand. 

 

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:     Snake Alley  m7:2 r25  

and you've lost orientation on crossing     m8:3 r12, 

so you must move

- outwards ( r25 is more than actual  r12 )

and

- to "earlier" (counterclockwise)   ( m7  is "earlier"  than m8 )

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:

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 test the program for pocketPC/smartphone with/without GPS by means of a download from www.volksnav.com

 

Indoor signage: the same methode can also be used indoor, e. g. www.volksnav.com/tugarching.   

Natural World Co-ordinates: the same addressing methode can also be used within the whole globe, see  www.watchrose.com. Acc. to this, the international City Code of Taipei is:  

            WatchRose© m1:32 00 r93 10

Just comparing this code for example with 

             Hsinchu, WatchRose© m1:32 60 r92 95 

 it is possible to evaluate that 

- Hsinchu is located "later" and farther to Munich than Taipei, more exactly:

:3260 - :3200 = 60 km "later"
and
radius9310 - r9295 = 15 km farther,
 
- the distance between both locations, the hipotenuse, is about 65km.
 

- for advanced userss: the direction Taipei / Hsinchu (to later, inwards) is QuoVides® 8, see www.quovides.com