When we see a map or a globe and want to find out the direction of a place from a given point we use the 4 main points defined on the compass i.e., North, South, East and West. They are the four cardinal directions or cardinal points. Their initials are N, S, E and W. Excluding these four there are four ordinal directions, namely, North-east (NE), South-east (SE), South- west (SW), North-west (NW).