Compass universally used as compass until the invention of the box-like compass with a 'dry' pivoting needle sometime around 1300. Originally, many compasses were marked only as to the direction of magnetic north, or to the four cardinal points (north, south, east, west). Later, these were divided, in China into 24, and in Europe into 32 equally spaced points around the compass card. For a table of the thirty-two points, see compass points. In the modern era, the 360-degree system took hold. This system is still in use today for civilian navigators. The degree system spaces 360 equidistant points located clockwise
Geological compass compass. Geological compass There are a number of different (specialised) magnetic compasses used by geologists to measure orientation of geological structures, as they map in the field, to analyse (and document) the geometry of bedding planes, joints, and/or metamorphic foliations and lineations. In this aspect the most common device used to date is the analogue compass. Classic geological compasses that are of practical use combine two functions, direction finding and navigation (especially in remote areas), and the ability to measure strike and dip of bedding surfaces and/or metamorphic foliation planes. Structural geologists (i.e. those concerned with geometry and the pattern