Compass Rose

Windrose:




Originally the compass rose was known as a wind rose and was used to indicate the directions of the winds. The 32 points of the compass rose come from the directions of the eight major winds, the eight half-winds and the sixteen quarter-winds.
Lacking a singluar standard for drawing a compass rose each school of cartographers developed their own.
The colors used have been traced back to the need to enhance clarity since these were being used by men at night in conditions ranging from calm to chaotic lit only by a lamp. Black was used to denote the eight principle points of the compass. Blue or green to indicate the half-winds and red for the quarter-wind points which are the smallest.