Munich Orientation Convention                       portugues         Google mapplet

  Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio, 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 colors - without compass or other navigation devices

Buildings, crossings, metro stations, stop points, bridges, tunnels etc. have logical addresses like

 
                       Arpoador StatusQuo© RJO m5:3 r48

                    Instituto Pereira Passos        m1:15 r39 

which are easy to understand if you associate the city with a clock as follows:

A relevant point as the Cristo Redentor was (will be) defined as a pole  m0. 

Around this pole, the horizon is divided in 12 "horizon hours"       

     m1  to  m12      

, whereas m12 points to north. 

This divides the city in 12 sectors. The picture signs the sector m8 as an example.

The sectors are divided in horizon minutes. These are not angles but DISTANCES to the horizon hour, in steps of approx one "block of houses", 100 yards or 100 meters. 

  Example :  m9:25   ( read  "emm 9 point 25"  or  "emm nine 25" ). 

This is a line situated in a distance of 25 x 100m from the horizon hour m9, which points to sunset. The convention for horizon minutes is very simple:      the greater, the later.

Considering the distance to m0 as r = radius also in steps of blocks of houses, logical position codes for targets, buildings, crossings etc. come into existence, e. g. as shown on the picture: 

      crossing StatusQuo© RJO m6:2 r20

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.

Example for a station code:  Cardeal Arcoverde

 
 
 

Natural Cartography©: a map with such a polar grid has innovative characteritics, see www.volksnav.com/map  

Interesting details: 

- the search grid contains quadrangules similar to the conventional ones. The picture above shows a white quadrangule with the dimensions 2,5 x 2,5 km. The bended sides let know in which direction the urban pole is situated. 

- the width of the sector is half the radius !! Example: m8:25 r50,   m8:50 r100  etc.

- the middle of the sector is radius/4. Example: m8:25 r100

 

Signage:

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

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: 

              Orientator©

 
if the pointer is placed on top   (f12) m0 will be in front of you   (f12)
  on bottom  (f6)   behind        (f6)
  right hand  (f3)   right hand   (f3)

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

The picture above reveils: m12 is behind, the Cristo Redentor 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 - 

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? 

 ( = 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?  

( = is the target m later or earlier than the actual one?)

 

Let's see an example: 

If your target is:         Arpoador StatusQuo© RJO m5:3 r48  

and you've lost orientation on named crossing     m6:2 r20, 

so you must go

- outwards ( r48 is more than r20 )

and

- to "earlier" (counterclockwise)   ( m5 is "earlier"  than m6 )

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. 

 

Efforts in Brasil, see also www.volksnav.com/brasil

 

Vision:

Natural World Co-ordinates: the same addressing methode will soon also be used indoor and within the whole globe, see  www.watchrose.com. Acc. to this, the international City Code of Rio de Janeiro is 

           WatchRose© m7:21 00  r96 00 

Just comparing this code for example with 

       Petrópolis WatchRose© m7:21 25  r95 55 

it is possible to evaluate that 

- the position of Petrópolis is "later" and closer to Munich than Rio , more exactly

    :21 25 - :21 20 = 25 km later

    r9600 - r9555 = 45 km closer

- the distance between both cities, the hipotenuse, is about 50 km. 

Compare this with the map:

  

Mobile applications: Very soon also navigation devices and mobile phones will indicate such logical position codes and cardinal points, see www.volksnav.com/mobile