What does latitude and longatude mean?

Answer 1

Latitude is an angular distance that shows the location of someplace on Earth that is north or south of the equator. On a map, the horizontal lines show latitude. Longitude lines are the vertical lines in the map that show locations.

Answer 2

In order to designate where you are on the surface of the earth, you need some sort of coordinate system. Latitude and longitude are the coordinate system that has been developed for the earth.

To understand latitude cut the earth in half at the equator (that is latitude 0 degrees), then measure from the very center of the earth up towards the north pole (that is latitude 90 degrees N) in degree units and rotate each measurement 360 degrees all the way round the earth. This gives you a series of circles going all the way round the earth that decrease in size as you go up. These are the lines of latitude they tell you (in degrees, minutes and seconds) how far you are above (or going south below) the equator.

To understand longitude go to the north or south pole and measure round the earth in degree units (with the lines going from pole to pole) for 360 degrees (a full circle) these are lines of longitude. However, if we are to measure round the earth using longitude we need to have some line which is 0 degrees and this line is designated as the Greenwich meridian.

Using these two sets of coordinates it is possible to designate where you are anywhere on the earth in terms of which longitude line you are on and your latitude north or south of the equator so that given this information anybody could find you.

Answer 3

If you got a cell-phone call from a person standing anywhere on earth, and he told you

exactly where he's standing, you could guide him to any other point on earth by giving him

only two numbers over the phone.

1). How far east or west to walk from the place he's standing.

2). How far north or south to walk.

Everybody on earth has agreed on where the starting point is. It happens to be in the ocean

a few hundred miles south of Accra, Ghana, in Africa, but that's not important. The main idea

is that everybody agrees on where the starting point is, and everybody uses the same starting

point. So we can exactly describe any other point on earth with two numbers ... how far east

or west of the starting point, and how far north or south of the starting point.

"Longitude" is the number that tells how far east or west.

"Latitude" is the number that tells how far north or south.

With these two numbers, you can tell anybody exactly where on earth you are, or if somebody

gives you the two numbers, you can go to exactly the right place, anywhere on earth.

Answer 4

If you got a cell-phone call from a person standing anywhere on earth, and he told you

exactly where he's standing, you could guide him to any other point on earth by giving him

only two numbers over the phone.

1). How far east or west to walk from the place he's standing.

2). How far north or south to walk.

Everybody on earth has agreed on where the starting point is. It happens to be in the ocean

a few hundred miles south of Accra, Ghana, in Africa, but that's not important. The main idea

is that everybody agrees on where the starting point is, and everybody uses the same starting

point. So we can exactly describe any other point on earth with two numbers ... how far east

or west of the starting point, and how far north or south of the starting point.

"Longitude" is the number that tells how far east or west.

"Latitude" is the number that tells how far north or south.

With these two numbers, you can tell anybody exactly where on earth you are, or if somebody

gives you the two numbers, you can go to exactly the right place, anywhere on earth.