Geographers use a formed by lines of latitude and longitude to determined?

Answer 1

-- Latitude is the angle measured from the equator, with positive values going north

and negative values going south.

-- Longitude is the angle measured from the prime meridian (the longitude that runs

through Greenwich, England), with positive values going east and negative values

going west.

-- Knowing these two angles, you can locate any point on Earth.

Answer 2

Let's make up a situation that'll help you understand this complex and difficult concept:

Say you're out of town for the weekend, and as soon as you get back home,

the first thing you need to do right away, the minute you walk in the door, is

hang a picture on the wall in your bedroom. OK so far ?

Now, before you get there, you want to hire a friend to put the nail in the wall,

so you won't have to bother with that when you get there ... you can just walk

in and hang the picture from the nail that's there waiting for you.

So you phone up your friend, and he's happy to go over there and put the nail

in for you. But while the two of you are still on the phone, he asks you:

"Where do you want the nail exactly ?"

Now, your momma didn't raise no dummies. You knew it would come to this.

You knew he was going to ask you where you want it, so you're ready with

the answer for him ... so clear that he can't possibly put it in the wrong place.

First, you make sure he knows which wall surface you're talking about: You

want it over the desk, in the north wall of the room.

Then ... this is the important part ... where on the north wall.

Let's think about this.

As you move around on the wall, there are two kinds of directions you can move:

horizontal (left/right) and vertical (up/down). So if you need to describe a place

on the wall, you need at least two measurements ... how far left or right, and

how far up or down. Two numbers can take you to any point on the wall.

But the measurements won't work unless you know where each one starts from.

So you have to be able to clearly describe where the "zeros" are.

So you tell your friend something like this: Start at the corner of the floor by the

door. That tells him the zero points for both measurements. How ? It tells him

that horizontal measurements start from the end of the wall by the door, and

vertical measurements start from the floor. Now all you have to tell him is:

4ft 6inches horizontal, 5ft 2inches up from the floor, and he knows exactly where

that nail goes, and you know exactly where it'll be when you get there.

And now you also understand latitude and longitude. The surface we have to

measure those on is curved ... it's the surface of the earth instead of a wall ...

so we have to measure in angles instead of feet. The point where measurements

all start from is in the Gulf of Guinea about 385 miles south of Accra, Ghana.

The horizontal (east/west) measurement from there is called longitude, and

the vertical (north/south) measurement from there is called latitude.

If you put a little dot at every point on earth where latitude is zero, you get a

line all the way around the middle of the earth's surface, called the 'equator'.

The latitude of every point on earth is measured north or south (up or down)

from there.

If you put a little dot at every point on earth where longitude is zero, you get a

line between the north pole and the south pole that passes through that point

in the Gulf of Guinea, and also passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich,

a suburb of London. The line is called the "Prime Meridian". The longitude of every

point on earth is measured east or west (right or left) from there.

And there you have it. If your friend phones you up one day and gives you two

numbers ... a latitude and a longitude ... you know where to start from, how far

north or south to go, and how far east or west to go, and you can sink that nail

exactly where he wants it to be, anywhere on earth.

Answer 3

Lines of longitude are all the same length and extend from pole to pole. The Prime Meridian is 0° longitude. That is the line of longitude that goes through Greenwich, England. The highest longitude is 180°. It goes through the Pacific Ocean directly opposite the Prime Meridian and coincides with most of the International Date Line. Distances around the planet from one longitude to another are measured in degrees, just like distances around a circle. Each degree is divided into 60 minutes ('), and each minute is divided into 60 seconds ("). Sometimes the minutes and seconds are expressed as a decimal portion of a degree. For example, 10° 30' is sometimes expressed as 10.5°. Degrees of east longitude go up heading east from the Prime Meridian to a maximum of 180°. Degrees of west longitude go up heading west from the Prime Meridian to the same 180° line. Many computer applications use positive numbers to represent values of east longitude and negative numbers to represent values of west longitude.

Lines of latitude are all parallel to each other with the equator being 0° latitude. The highest latitudes are 90° north latitude, which is the north pole, and 90° south latitude, which is the south pole. Since latitudes are all parallel, their lengths are different. The longest is the equator, and they get shorter as you approach the poles. So 90° north latitude and 90° south latitude are not lines but just points. Many computer applications use positive numbers to represent values of north latitude and negative numbers to represent values of south latitude.

Degrees of longitude are measured along lines of latitude, and degrees of latitude are measured along lines of longitude. Degrees of latitude go up only to 90° in each direction from the equator because each line of longitude is a half-circle, whereas each line of latitude is a circle.

The point in the Atlantic Ocean where the Prime Meridian and the equator intersect is 0° latitude by 0° longitude. If you go west from there a quarter of the way around the planet (halfway to the International Date Line), you would be at 0° latitude by 90° west longitude, which is in the midst of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. If you went north from there halfway to the north pole, you would be at 45° north latitude by 90° west longitude, which is in Edgar, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

A nautical mile, which is about 1.15 miles, is defined at the length of one minute of longitude along the equator. Since the earth is almost a sphere, the same is almost true of one minute of latitude along each line of longitude, and one minute of longitude along any line of latitude is about a nautical mile multiplied by the cosine of the latitude (cos(lat.)).

Answer 4

Each degree of latitude or longitude is further divided into 60 minutes (written') and each minute into 60 seconds (written'). This system allows you to pinpoint a location on earth precisely

Answer 5

they use physical features

Answer 6

locate places

absolute location

Answer 7

locate places