Quote:
Originally Posted by Swish
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X = numbers on the side
Y = numbers at the top
...is it switched? I've always found locs okay on the EQ Atlas maps.
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Thinking about /loc in terms of a cartesian coordinate system makes the system seem backwards because in one of these systems the first number is typically a measure along the X-axis, or your "numbers at the top". Here the first number measures the "numbers on the side", or your location along the Y-axis. Additional confusion results from the fact that moving to the right of the Y-axis causes the X coordinate to decrease, a direction that is conventionally positive.
If your experience with grids manages to transcend high school algebra; however, you will know that the /loc system is
not backwards because it is imitating a latitude-longitude coordinate system in which the North-South component comes before the East-West component. This is the way people read real life maps. Pilots, military personnel, and geoscientists will find this exceedingly obvious.
TL;DR: If you think /loc is backwards, you probably have a boring job.