In an era dominated by GPS orientation, with the accompanying increases in accuracy and precision, we might add to his question, “And which north are you talking about?” There is still some confusion afoot in that regard. Terms like “true north,” “grid north,” and “geodetic north” are sometimes used without a complete understanding of their meaning. Although the confusion couldn’t possibly extend to you, knowledgeable reader, what could it hurt to examine the issue and the definitions of the words? Who knows, perhaps in the next column we can delve into the definition of “south”? Or maybe not. But to press on:

When one undertakes to write upon a particular subject, one of the time-honored cop-outs one may resort to is to quote a dictionary definition. I wouldn’t do that—except maybe this once. And rather than quoting an ordinary dictionary, I’ll turn to the Geodetic Glossary, an official publication of the National Geodetic Survey. Geodetic Glossary’s first definition of “north” (“north” without any modifiers, that is) is: “The positive direction of a line lying in a plane through the Earth’s axis of rotation and tangent to the geoid or to an equipotential (gravity) surface at a point.” I think I can live with that. But check this out: the third definition of “north” is: “The direction indicated by the positive end of a magnetic needle suspended so as to rotate freely.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe those two definitions came up with two different directions some 10 degrees apart! And both defining the same word, “north.”