COMAND: North Up or Track Up?

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st13phil

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The thread on map updates got me wondering how many fall into each camp?

I was an "early adopter" of sat-nav's at the beginning of the 2000's when an automotive Garmin device for use on a motorcycle would set you back the thick end of £600, had a tiny memory that meant you had to pre-load only the map segments you needed for a trip, took ages to recalculate and had a tiny screen. Most users - me included - adopted "Track Up" orientation as it made it easier to understand junction layouts and you didn't have the luxury of having a junction view either as a pop-up or split screen.

However the big problem with "Track Up" is that it's hard to know where you're being lead if there's a route recalculation or you've picked an erroneous destination (there are a disturbing number of duplicate place names in most of Europe) and blindly following the magenta line can lead you into a whole heap of trouble. So for quite a number of years now I've been using sat-nav's on motorcycles and in cars with a "North Up" orientation as it's much harder to find yourself heading somewhere you didn't intend. The split or pop-up view that displays junction detail still presents as "Track Up", so the mental gymnastics to work out which direction to turn are minimised and it's immediately obvious if I'm heading in the wrong direction.
 
Track up. That's how I was taught to hold a (paper) map many years ago. North Up can cause embarrassing right/left mistakes when under pressure.
 
North up for the very reasons you give, also much easier to quickly relate to a road atlas which my wife keeps on her lap when on long journeys on the continent.

With the pop up junction/turn map there is no need to use track up.
 
I too started navigation with maps, orientated track up. I still do it that way.
 
Track up for me. Touch wood I've never ended up going to the wrong destination.

As an aside, pre-satnav I has a compass fitted after joining motorways in the wrong direction a couple of times when the signage didn't include "North" etc. (just place names that I wasn't familiar with).
 
I still use track up on a paper map when hiking as luckily my 70 odd year old brain can handle both methods! :)
 
Track up for me as well ...
I always double check the route before setting off, just to make sure I'm not being sent 'round the house' (or I've input the wrong destination! :rolleyes: 😁 )
 
Track up, north up just looks so wrong now if I accidently engage it.
 
The thread on map updates got me wondering how many fall into each camp?

I was an "early adopter" of sat-nav's at the beginning of the 2000's when an automotive Garmin device for use on a motorcycle would set you back the thick end of £600, had a tiny memory that meant you had to pre-load only the map segments you needed for a trip, took ages to recalculate and had a tiny screen. Most users - me included - adopted "Track Up" orientation as it made it easier to understand junction layouts and you didn't have the luxury of having a junction view either as a pop-up or split screen.

However the big problem with "Track Up" is that it's hard to know where you're being lead if there's a route recalculation or you've picked an erroneous destination (there are a disturbing number of duplicate place names in most of Europe) and blindly following the magenta line can lead you into a whole heap of trouble. So for quite a number of years now I've been using sat-nav's on motorcycles and in cars with a "North Up" orientation as it's much harder to find yourself heading somewhere you didn't intend. The split or pop-up view that displays junction detail still presents as "Track Up", so the mental gymnastics to work out which direction to turn are minimised and it's immediately obvious if I'm heading in the wrong direction.
North up in the car for anyone who knows anything about geography. Track up if you're walking.
 
Track up for me. Prefer to look ahead rather than what feels to back as I mostly head South
 

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