Quote Originally Posted by Hai-Etlik View Post
First, A rose is only for maps where the directions do not vary. That means either Mercator projection, or relatively large scale (Covering small areas).

If a line of constant bearing (Rhumb Line or Loxodrome) is not straight on your map, you can't use a rose.

A simple north arrow doesn't imply as much precision, but I'd still be leery about it. The graticule (The grid) by itself should be enough in most cases.

One thing that might work is to extend a meridian from the graticule and put an arrow on that to indicate north. Of course this depends on an edge at the north of the map. It would work for Winkel Tripel, or Lambert Conformal Conic, but not Polar Stereographic.
How about Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area?

But so if I have my maps displaying a well marked Graticule I can use the rose as mostly decorative and not worry about direction?