Also known askampasmagnetic compass
Modern practice measures from North at 0 degrees: East at 90, South at 180, West at 270 and North again at 360. Halving gives the corner directions at 45, 135, 225 and 315 degrees, and halving again gives sub-directions such as North-North-East at 22.5 degrees.
Compass
The map-compass app shared in class shows a satellite map with two red axis lines. After locating the building and rotating the lines parallel to its walls, the degree shown at the top is the building's degree.
Android phone with the map-compass app shared in the class group (iPhones do not support it)
A magnetic compass with a straight side edge, set so that its North-South line, mirror line and axis line coincide, is placed parallel to a straight wall on a level, metal-free surface and read from directly above. The offset of the red needle from the compass North gives the tilt of the building.
Liquid-filled magnetic compass with a straight side edge or rectangular base (not a small round one)
Beside any straight wall of the building, never at the centre
Every reading is compared with the nearest cardinal direction: North 0 or 360, East 90, South 180, West 270. The difference is the tilt, stated as North tilted so many degrees toward East (to the right) or toward West (to the left).
Find the centre, draw a reference line, set off the measured tilt to get exact North, then mark 22.5-degree zones starting 11.25 degrees on either side of North, using the Geo Vastu chakra or an ordinary protractor.
Tilt reading from Google Earth, a mobile compass app or a physical compass
After zoning, mark the 32 outer padas of 11.25 degrees each: Soma (N5) is centred on exact North, extending 5.625 degrees on each side, and the remaining padas follow every 11.25 degrees.
For an irregular plot, measure the degree of one wall or axis, draw a line through the centre parallel to that wall, set off the measured tilt to get exact North, and then mark the zones as usual.
Google Earth or compass reading of one wall
A consultant prepares before visiting a factory or house: obtain the map and current location, find the degrees, draw the zone lines (joining) and divide the pads. Only then visit, feel the energy and interpret.
Compass
Whole site
On tilted plots, directions and zones must be read in degrees with a compass. Vedic vastu never says to treat any corner as Ishaan or to accept a direction however tilted it is, and a wrong reading leads to costly and harmful changes.
Compass
Buy a liquid-filled compass from a stationery shop or online; it makes it easy to set zero degree and read degrees. Also download Google Earth on a laptop or computer and install a compass app on the mobile, which works only on Android phones, not on iPhones. Geo Vastu does not sell a compass of its own.
By convention the whole world measures tilt from North, saying whether it turns toward East or West, and the compass itself points to North. You could count it from East if you prefer.
Because the degree must never be taken from the centre. A compass placed at the centre only shows roughly whether a room is in the North-East or North-West; the exact tilt comes only when the compass is parallel to a wall. In a regular house, readings taken parallel to the walls are the same everywhere.
Simply line it up. The dial has a North-South line and an East-West line; turn it until one of them lies exactly straight with the mirror line and the axis line. The more precisely it is straight, the more accurate the reading; a crooked setting can read 20 or 30 degrees for the same house.
Not necessarily. A magnetic compass shows North directly, so its reading can be stated straight away, for example North 30 degrees toward East. Google Earth and the mobile app only show the heading of the line you draw, and North has to be worked out from it; a heading of 2.39 means North lies 2.39 degrees to the left.
No. If it has a straight edge on its side, keep that edge parallel to a wall. A liquid compass that is set exactly gives the correct reading, and it may also show the water level.
Each small line is 2 degrees. If the needle falls three lines after North, the tilt is 6 degrees; five lines after North means 10 degrees.
In a regular plot you can set the zero directly at 350 degrees when drawing the straight line. It is easier to think of it as a 10-degree tilt and set off 10 degrees, because that method works from whichever side of the plot you start.
No. Each map has its own tilt, 10, 12, 20 or 25 degrees, and North can be on any side. Measure the tilt with Google Earth and find which side is North at the site, from the client or from the North mark that most plans carry, although the tilt itself is not written on them.
The method is the same. Take the degree of one wall on Google Earth, draw a line through the centre parallel to that wall, set off the tilt (for example 20 degrees towards West, that is 340 degrees) to get exact North, align N5 of the chakra with it and mark the zones. The centre of an irregular plot can be found only with AutoCAD or by cutting the paper plan to shape and finding its balancing centre.
Yes, always by degrees; reading directions without degrees was a mistake, and only the degree method shows the actual zones.
Degrees can still be taken: place the compass parallel to the axis, or draw the line with the Google Earth compass, and read the degree from it.