North

For many purposes and physical circumstances, the error in direction that results from ignoring the distinction is tolerable; in others a mental or instrument compensation, based on assumed knowledge of the applicable declination, can solve all the problems.

But simple generalizations on the subject should be treated as unsound, and as likely to reflect popular misconceptions about terrestrial magnetism.

Maps intended for usage in orienteering by compass will clearly indicate the local declination for easy correction to true north.

Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to "up" in the northern hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, before worldwide communication, anything but an arbitrary one - at least for night-time astronomers.

On the contrary, Chinese and Islamic cultures considered south as the proper "top" end for maps.

[9] In the cultures of Polynesia, where navigation played an important role, winds - prevailing local or ancestral - can define cardinal points.

[10] In Western culture: North is quite often associated with colder climates because most of the world's populated land at high latitudes is located in the Northern Hemisphere.