What is latitude and longitude?

Answer 1

Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi, , gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the Equator. Latitude is an angular measurement in degrees (marked with °) ranging from 0° at the Equator to 90° at the poles (90° N for the North Pole or 90° S for the South Pole).

Longitude, sometimes denoted by the Greek letter λ (lambda), describes the location of a place on Earth east or west of a north-south line called the Prime Meridian. Longitude is given as an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. Unlike latitude, which has the equator as a natural starting position, there is no natural starting position for longitude. Therefore, a reference meridian had to be chosen.

Answer 2

Latitude is an angular measurement in degrees (marked with °) ranging from 0° at the Equator to 90° at the poles (90° N for the North Pole or 90° S for the South Pole). The complementary angle of a latitude is called the colatitude.

Longitude is given as an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. Unlike latitude, which has the equator as a natural starting position, there is no natural starting position for longitude. Therefore, a reference meridian had to be chosen. While British cartographers had long used the Greenwich meridian in London, other references were used elsewhere, including: El Hierro, Rome, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Saint Petersburg, Pisa, Paris, Philadelphia and Washington. In 1884, the International Meridian Conference adopted the Greenwich meridian as the universal prime meridian or zero point of longitude.

Answer 3

Latitude

The equator is an imaginary line that circles Earth exactly halfway between the North and South Poles. The equator separates Earth into two equal halves, called the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. The lines running parallel to the equator are called lines of latitude, or parallels. Latitude refers to distance in degrees either north or south of the equator. Just as other parallel lines do not intersect, lines of latitude do not intersect.

The equator is numbered 0 degrees latitude. The poles are each numbered 90 degrees. Therefore, latitude is measured from 0 degrees at the equator to 90 degrees at the poles. Locations north of the equator are referred to by degrees north latitude. Locations south of the equator are referred to by degrees south latitude. For example, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is located at 45 degrees north latitude.

Longitude

Latitude lines are used for locations north and south of the equator, but what about locations in east and west directions? These vertical lines, have two names - meridians and lines of longitude. Just as the equator is used as a reference point for north/south grid lines, there’s a reference point for east/west grid lines. This reference point is the prime meridian. This imaginary line represents 0 degrees longitude. In 1884, astronomers decided the prime meridian should go through the Greenwich (GREN itch) Observatory near London. Longitude refers to distances in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Points west of the prime meridian have west longitude measured from 0 degrees to 180 degrees, while points east of the prime meridian have east longitude, also measured from 0 degrees to 180 degrees.

The prime meridian does not circle Earth as the equator does. Rather, it runs from the North Pole through Greenwich, England, to the South Pole. The line of longitude on the opposite side of Earth from the prime meridian where east lines of longitude meet west lines of longitude is the 180 degrees meridian. This line is also known as the International Date Line.

Using latitude and longitude, you can locate Hawaii more accurately. Hawaii is located at 20 degrees north latitude and about 155 degrees west longitude, or 20 degrees N, 155 degrees W. Note that latitude comes first when we discuss the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of a particular location.

Answer 4

Latitude are imaginary lines that run from east to west .these lines are parallel to each other . The distance between Latitude is equal . They are also called the parallel of latitude.Longitudes are imaginary lines that run from north pole to south pole . These are not parallel to each other . These are also called meridians of logitude

Answer 5

Latitude is a measurement in degrees north and south of the equator,with the equator being 0 degrees.Longitude is an east west measurement in degree sfrom the prime meridian,it being 0 degrees

Answer 6

Hi there,
The latitude linear graduation is the distance between the North and South poles.
The longitudinal graduation is parallel to the equatorial line...

Answer 7

longitude is the distance around the world from north to south poles and lattitude goes around the equater....i think

Answer 8

they are imaginery lines to locate any place in the world.