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The lines of longitude are vertical; longitude measures the horizontal distance from 0 degrees longitude.

Here is a mnemonic that helps me: Latitude sounds a little like 'ladder-tude', and the rungs of a ladder are horizontal. I picture myself 'stepping up or down' the lines of ladder-tude, and this moves me farther north or farther south. That leaves vertical for longitude. While the lines of longitude are drawn from north to south, their locations measure a parameter that changes from east to west; longitude tells you how far east or west you are (in degrees, not distance) from the prime meridian (zero degrees longitude). Lines of latitude are drawn from east to west, and they measure how far north or south you are. So running the risk of confusing you, the "concept" of longitude (what is your position east/west of the prime meridian) is really horizontal in nature. This can be a little hard to grasp. Draw a line on a piece of paper; make the line exactly one inch from the left margin. You have drawn the line 'up and down', but the line is there to tell you how to get one inch from the margin (left-right) no matter where you are on the paper. And no matter where you are on the line, you are one inch to the right of the left margin. So if you travel up and down a line of longitude, you might cover several thousand miles, but you haven't budged from your measure of longitude-- how far you are (in degrees) from the prime meridian. As you travel along your line of longitude, you see hash-marks with changing numbers of degrees. These are not changes in longitude, but in latitude. They answer: How far north or south am I, along this line of longitude? When doing navigation, the simple thing is that lines of longitude are all long. Since they all go through both the North and South Pole, they are all the same length. Latitude lines vary in length. Latitude: LAT=FLAT Longitude: LONG (heights)

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10y ago

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Anonymous

4y ago
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Anonymous

4y ago
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Anonymous

4y ago
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Q: Is longitude horizontal or vertical
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