Bearing → Cardinal Direction
Translate a compass bearing in degrees into 16- or 32-wind cardinal direction names.
Overview
The Bearing to Cardinal Direction converter translates a numeric compass bearing into a human-readable wind name. Feed in any value between 0 and 360 degrees and the tool labels it as North, NNE, NE, ENE, East and so on, using either the 16-wind or the more precise 32-wind compass rose. It is the bridge between numeric heading outputs from a GPS or bearing calculator and the cardinal language you would use on a hike, a sailing chart or a weather report.
This is a quick lookup rather than a heavy calculation, but it is surprisingly easy to mis-bucket bearings by hand - especially around the boundary slices like NNE vs NE or WSW vs SW. The tool keeps the buckets even and exact, so a 22.6 degree bearing always lands in NNE on the 16-wind rose and a wind report that mentions "WSW at 14 knots" maps cleanly back to roughly 247.5 degrees.
How it works
A traditional 16-wind compass rose divides the full circle into 16 equal arcs of 22.5 degrees each, starting with North centred on 0 degrees. The bearing is shifted by half a slice (11.25 degrees) before integer-dividing by 22.5, giving an index from 0 to 15 that picks the abbreviation from a lookup table: N, NNE, NE, ENE, E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW, NNW.
The 32-wind rose halves each slice to 11.25 degrees and adds the "by" names - "N by E", "NE by N", and so on - giving finer-grained labels favoured in classical seafaring. Both modes normalise the input into [0, 360) before binning so negative values and values above 360 still resolve correctly.
Examples
- 0 degrees → N (16-wind) or N (32-wind).
- 45 degrees → NE in both modes.
- 170 degrees → S on the 16-wind rose, "S by E" on the 32-wind rose because it sits one slice east of due south.
- 293 degrees → WNW on the 16-wind rose, "NW by W" on the 32-wind rose.
FAQ
What is the difference between 16-wind and 32-wind?
The 16-wind rose covers most everyday needs and matches how weather services describe wind direction. The 32-wind rose adds half-step "by" labels (N by E, E by S, etc.) used historically in marine navigation when finer headings mattered.
Where do the slice boundaries fall?
On the 16-wind rose, the slice for North spans 348.75 to 11.25 degrees. Each successive slice is 22.5 degrees wide. The tool centres each label on the named direction, not at the boundary.
Does the tool handle true vs magnetic north?
The lookup is purely about converting a numeric bearing into a name; it does not apply declination. If your bearing came from a magnetic compass and you need a true bearing, adjust for declination before entering it.
Can I enter negative bearings?
Yes. A bearing of -90 is normalised to 270 and labelled W.