latitude and longitude

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: latitude and longitude

Coordinate system by which the position or location of any place on the Earth's surface can be determined and described. Latitude is a measurement of location north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are known as parallels, or parallels of latitude. Longitude is a measurement of location east or west of the prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, Eng. The combination of meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude establishes a grid by which exact positions can be determined: for example, a point described as 40° N, 30° W is located 40° of arc north of the Equator and 30° of arc west of the Greenwich meridian.

For more information on latitude and longitude, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a word or phrase...

Shopping: latitude and longitude

Top

Nautica Latitude Longitude Conditioning Shampoo

Learn More

	geographic coordinates
	deflection of the vertical (geodesy)
	nonradial pulsation (astronomy)

	Why is it important to know north or south for latitude and east or west for longitude when using latitude and longitude to locate a place on a map? Read answer...
	In which direction would you travel if you were going from 40degrees N latitude and120degrees w longitude to 38degrees N latitude and 120degrees w longitude? Read answer...
	In which direction would you travel if you were going from 40degrees N latitude and 120degrees W longitude to 38degrees N latitude and 120degrees W longitude? Read answer...

Help us answer these

	What is the Mileage between latitude 34.9279 longitude -83.599 and latitude 35.0427 longitude -83.5626?
	In which direction would you travel going from 32 N Latitude and 94 W Longitude to 30 N Latitude and 94 W Longitude?
	In which direction would you travel if you were going from 30N latitude to 20w longitude to 15n latitude60w longitude?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights: