Expressing locations on the compass

1. To express the compass location of a place in Russian we use the preposition на and the location in the prepositional case.
   

   Москва на севере.	Moscow is in the north.
   Флорида на юге.	Florida is in the south

2. To express the location of one place in relation to another place, if the first place is inside the second place the second place will take genitive endings.
   

   Мичиган на севере Америки.	Michigan is in the north of America.
   Атланта на юге Америки.	Atlanta is in the south of America.
   Москва на севере России.	Moscow is in the north of Russia.

   The cities are inside the countries.
3. If the two places are separated from each other (neither is inside the other), then we use the preposition от and the second place will take genitive endings.
   

   Мичиган на севере от Атланты.	Michigan is north of Atlanta.
   Владивосток на востоке от Москвы.	Vladivostok is east of Moscow.
   Москва на западе от Владивостока.	Moscow is west of Vladivostok.

   Neither place is inside the other.