Why must both latitude and longitude be known to find the location of a place on a map?

Answer 1

Latitude and longitude don't help you a bit in determining your location. What you

do need them for is to tell somebody else where you're located. There's no way

to describe your location on a surface with a single piece of information. It takes

at least two.

-- Point on a Cartesian graph . . . ' x ' and ' y ' coordinates.

-- Address of a house . . . number and street-name.

-- Point on a sphere . . . angles from two reference lines, or Easting and Northing

from one reference point, etc.

Answer 2

If you're not going to be home when the workmen are there, how could you

tell them exactly where you want a nail put into your bedroom wall ?

You could tell them you want it 5-feet above the floor. But that could still be

anywhere from one end of the wall to the other end.

You have to give them another number ... say, 4feet 6inches to the left of the window.

Now they know the exact point where you want it.

-- If you only give them the vertical distance from the floor, then it could be

anywhere along the whole length of the wall, 5-feet from the floor.

-- If you only give them the horizontal distance from the window, then it could be

anywhere between the floor and the ceiling, 4feet 6inches from the window.

-- One number is enough to describe a single point from the end of a rope,

or from the end of any straight line.

-- But to find a point on an area, you need two numbers.

-- If you wanted to describe a point in space ... anywhere inside the bedroom,

not necessarily on the floor or on a wall but just hanging there in the air ... then

they would need three numbers.

Answer 3

Yes. Both latitude and longitude must be used so as to form an intersection, or the location will never be correctly indentified.

Answer 4

This is true. You can describe any location on the Earth with latitude and longitude.