Lines ofLatitude & Longitude
•Equator: imaginary lines that circles theEarth, and divides it into the Northern andSouthern hemispheres
•Prime Meridian: imaginary line that circlesthe Earth from the North Pole to the SouthPole, and divides it into Eastern and Westernhemispheres.
–Crosses through Greenwich, England
The Grid System
•Latitude: drawn in an east-west direction thatmeasure distance north and south of the equator.
•Longitude: drawn in a north-south direction thatmeasure distance east and west of the PrimeMeridian.
Lines of Latitude…
Latitude locationsrelate to differentclimate zones
Lines of Longitude…
Relative & AbsoluteLocations
•Relative Location: Described by landmarks, time,direction or distance. From one place to another.
•Absolute Location: A latitude and longitudeCoordinate (global location) or a street address (locallocation).
Typical Graph
•A point can alsohave negative (-) values
•Negative X valuesare to the left of the origin (0,0)
•Negative Y valuesare below the origin
X
Y
(-X,+Y)
(+X,-Y)
(+X,+Y)
(-X,-Y)
(0,0)
East West, North South on The Earth
•Let the X axis be theEquator.
•Let the Y axis be thePrime Meridian that runs throughGreenwich outside of London.
•Lat/Long are the 2 gridpoints by which you can locateany point on earth.
Y
X
East West, North South on the Earth
•Let each of thefour quartersthen bedesignated byNorth or Southand East orWest.
N
S
E
W
East West, North South on the Earth
•The N tells us we’renorth of the Equator.The S tells us we’resouth of the Equator.
•The E tells us thatwe’re east of thePrime Meridian. TheW tells us that we’rewest of the PrimeMeridian.
(N, W)
(N, E)
(S, W)
(S, E)
East West, North South on the Earth
•That means all pointsin North America will have aNorth latitude and aWest longitudebecause it is North ofthe Equator and Westof the PrimeMeridian.
(N, W)
Prime Meridian
East West, North South on the Earth
•What would be thelatitude andlongitudedirections inAustralia?
Prime Meridian
?
If you said South and East , you’re right!
What is Latitude?
•Latitude is the distancefrom the equator alongthe Y axis.
•All points along theequator have a value of0 degrees latitude.
•North pole = 90°N
•South pole = 90°S
•Values are expressed interms of degrees.
•Lines of Latitude areknown as parallels
Y
X
90°S
90°N
What is Longitude?
•Longitude is the distancefrom the prime meridianalong the X axis.
•All points along theprime meridian have a value of 0 degreeslongitude.
•The earth is divided intotwo parts, or hemispheres, of eastand west longitude.
Y
X
180°W
180°E
What is Longitude?
•The earth isdivided into 360equal slices (meridians)
•180 west and 180east of the primemeridian
Y
X
180°W
180°E
So Where is (0,0)?
•The origin point(0,0) is where theequatorintersects the prime meridian.
•(0,0) is off thewestern coast ofAfrica in theAtlantic Ocean.
See If You Can Tell In Which QuarterThese Lon/Lats Are Located
•1. 41°N, 21°E
•2. 37°N, 76°W
•3. 72°S, 141°W
•4. 7°S, 23°W
•5. 15°N, 29°E
•6. 34°S, 151°E
A
B
C
D
•1. B
•2. A
•3. C
•4. C
•5. B
•6. D
