Body relative direction

An example of a non-egocentric view is page layout, where the relative terms "upper half" "left margin," etc.

are defined in terms of the observer but employed in reverse for a type compositor, returning to an egocentric view.

In medicine and science, where precise definitions are crucial, relative directions (left and right) are the sides of the organism, not those of the observer.

Many mass transit trains are built symmetrically with paired control booths, and definitions of forward, backward, left, and right are temporary.

Since counter-clockwise may be defined in terms of up, forward, and right, this experiment unambiguously differentiates left from right using only natural elements: if they were reversed, or the atoms spun clockwise, the radiation would follow the spin axis instead of being opposite to it.

Bow, stern, port, starboard, fore and aft are nautical terms that convey an impersonal relative direction in the context of the moving frame of persons aboard a ship.

The need for impersonal terms is most clearly seen in a rowing shell where the majority of the crew face aft ("backwards"), hence the oars to their right are actually on the port side of the boat.

Other peoples "from Polynesia to Mexico and from Namibia to Bali" similarly have predominantly "geographic languages".

[1] American Sign Language makes heavy use of geographical direction through absolute orientation.