If north is the sky and south is the ground how are u supposed to read a map because everything is e & w?
535352
your not that smart. north is not the sky, and south is not the ground. look the direction the sun rises, thats east. now turn your self 90 degrees to the left, thats north, turn another 90 degrees to the left, thats west, and where the sun sets. turn another 90 degrees left, thats south.     and most maps have a compass rose on them, it shows which way is north.\n\nyou were obvisouly NOT a boy scout
1100581
First there are 3 north poles. There is magnetic north which your compass will point to, There is the North Pole the earth rotates on and then there is North which would be the top of the earth as compare to the sun and its orbital plane. We can also refer to north based on the position of the galaxy and assigning one end as North and the other as south. North and south poles are used in navigation after the discovery of the compass needle always pointing north.
12450
mmm try Google Earth, better than any paper map
60283
This question has been adequately answered, but it is a trick question in that every direction at the north pole is south (you can't walk east, west, or north of the north pole), and every direction at the south pole is north. You could, however take one step south, turn and walk east, but you would have to walk in a little circle to maintain your easterly direction. Weird, huh?
35715
Check http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp
634409
Cool! But if the map is on my back, how can i see the coordinates and point them out?
377553
Have a look at the map.
57388
There is no west line.  East and west are relative terms.  North and south are obsolute terms, because they relate to absolute locations (the North and South poles, respectively).  East and west don't work like that.  They are like right and left--you could turn right infinitely and never reach a maximum state of rightness.
759939
IF YOU'VE GOT   WINDOWS XP  USE  GOOGLE  EARTH\nGOD BLESS
998766
it depends. Will you be facing north or south on the planet's surface? Then figure out if your left hand is up, and the right is down, or vice versa. If it is, you can count on a retrograde rotation.
627309
Set your internal biological compass to your GPS coordinates. The next time you boot, you'll know.\n\nSeriously, go online and get a map of your neighborhood. Look at the direction of your street. Presumably you know which way the room is oriented to the street.
874513
If you are in the Northern Hemisphere and it is clear out you can use the big dipper to find the North Star (off the outside of the "cup").  If you are in the southern Hemisphere I believe you can use the Southern Cross similarly (points north south).\n\nIf it is near sunrise or sunset and you know roughly what lattitude you are at and what season it is you can get a rought idea of East or West and therefore North and South (for instance if you face West, north is to your right).\n\nObviously if you have GPS or a compass that makes all this much easier (assuming your compass is lit ;) ).\n\nIf it is very clear out you can probably see the Milky Way, and the galactic plane runs roughly North South.\n\nIf you are familar with the night sky and know what time of year it is you could get a rough idea of your lattitude and maybe longitude, and, even if you can't find the North Star or Southern Cross you could find planets and the orbital plane or a familar constallation and figure out the directions.\n\nRealistically if I didn't know where I was I would either go towards light if there was a bright part of the sky (city) or find a creek and fallow it since even if it is dried up, it is likely that it will lead you to a settled area or road and hopefully would have more shade from bushes and more food and water.
100434
google maps allows you to switch between street views and satellite views.  Give it a try.
433683
Side view could be profile; strip of land is isthmus (strait is actually water)
556313
North, East, West, South
823270
yeah but north or south
1012715
Most land navigation activities focus on a very small portion of the globe at any one time. Typically the area of interest to an outdoorsman is less than 20 miles on a side. This focus on a small area allows us to abbreviate UTM coordinates.\n\nThe zone information and the digits representing 1,000,000m, and 100,000m are dropped. The 1m, 10m and 100m digits are used only to the extent of accuracy desired.\n\nA GPS unit might read\n\n10 S 0559741\n    4282182\n\nUsing a notation similar to the one found on a USGS topographic map, this would be written as:\n\nZone 10 S 559741 mE. 4282182 mN.\n\nAn abbreviated format for the same coordinates would look like:\n\n 59 82 \n  Describes a 1000m by 1000m square. \n \n597 821\n  Describes a 100m by 100m square. \n \n5974 8218\n  Describes a 10m by 10m square. \n \n59741 82182\n  Describes a 1m by 1m square. \n\n\nThe 100m abbreviated format, 597 821, and the 10m abbreviated format, 5974 8218, are the most commonly used.\n\nNotice that the easting is reported first, followed by the northing. Remember the phrase "read right up" to help you remember to read the easting from left to right, followed by the northing from the bottom up.\n\nAlso notice that when you abbreviate coordinates you should not do any rounding. 0559651 becomes 596 not 597. This ensures that your position is still within the reported square. As accuracy decreases, the square gets bigger. \n\nI hope this is what you are looking for.