What are Latitudes and Longitudes?

Latitude & Longitude - These are imaginary lines drawn on the globe.

latitudes and longitudes

Lines running east and west, parallel to the equator - These are called Lines/Parallels of latitude.

Lines running north and south passing through the poles - These are called Lines/Meridians of longitude

The intersection of latitude and longitude pin-points any place on the earth’s surface.

Table of Contents

Latitude

Latitude - angular distance (in degrees) of a point on the earth’s surface from the centre of the earth.

latitude angular distance

Latitude lines or Parallels are parallel to the equator.
They are circles which get smaller polewards.
The equator represents 0° and the North and South Poles are 90°N and 90°S.
Average linear distance of a degree of latitude = 69 miles (111 km)
As the earth is slightly flattened at the poles, the linear distance of a degree of latitude at the pole is a little longer than that at the equator.
Each degree is sub-divided into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds.

Longitude - angular distance (in degrees) of a place east or west of the Prime Meridian.

Prime Meridian / Greenwich Meridian

Zero meridian (0°) passes through the Royal Astronomical Observatory at Greenwich, near London.

All other meridians radiate eastward and westwards up to 180° from Prime Meridian. longitudes

Lines of longitude/Meridians are a series of semi-circles that run from pole to pole (in a north-south direction) passing through the equator at right angles.
Unlike latitudes, they are all equal in length.
1° of longitude = 69.1 miles at the equator and 1° of longitude = 0 miles at the poles.
They determine local time in relation to Greenwich Mean Time (G.M.T.)/World Time.

The combination of meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude establishes a framework or grid.

Using this grid we can determine exact positions of any place in reference to the Prime meridian and the Equator.

To provide a geographic location of a place using latitude and longitude - Coordinates are used.

The latitude has the symbol of phi (Φ) & the longitude has the symbol of lambda (λ).
Latitude is always written first.

For example:
A point - 40° N, 30° E
It will be located 40° north of the Equator and 30° east of the Prime meridian.

To be even more precise - we should use minutes, and seconds along with degrees.
A point - 40° 35′ 26′′ N, 30° 12′ 38′′ E