東 and 西: east and west of a building
Locate a library east of a station and a window on the west side, separating compass directions from a viewer’s left and right.
A place to the east
東, read ひがし, means east. 駅の東に図書館があります。 locates a library east of the station. The station is the reference for the library’s direction.
東へ進んでください。 asks someone to proceed east. Whether the visible road ahead leads east requires a separate direction check.
The west side and an entrance
西, read にし, means west. 西側の窓を閉めました。 says that a window on the west side was closed. 西側 identifies its location.
西口で待ち合わせましょう。 suggests meeting at the west entrance. 西口 is read にしぐち. Knowing the entrance name does not yet establish a route from the present position.
Separating east and west from screen orientation
この地図は東が上になっています。 says that this map has east at the top. Automatically treating its top as north would contradict that information.
駅の東 and 駅の西 give opposite directions from the station. Turning the viewer’s body does not reverse these geographic relations as it can reverse left and right.
Is the top of the map north in この地図は東が上になっています。?
Show the answer and why
No. The sentence explicitly places east at the top of this map.