Latitude and Longitude
The earth is divided up with imaginary lines that help us measure distances. These lines are
known as lines of latitude and lines of longitude.
1. _________________of latitude
 Lines of latitude run around the
globe. They are parallel to each
other.
 The ___________ latitude line is the
Equator (0°).
 Lines get ___________ and shorter
as they get closer to the poles.
 The Earth is divided into 181 parallel
lines from the North Pole to the
South Pole. There are 90 lines north
of the Equator and 90 south of the
Equator.
 There are _____ major lines of
Latitude (as shown in Figure A).
a) _____________________: 0°
 The imaginary line of latitude that runs around the middle of the earth is known as the
Equator.
 0° latitude is called the Equator because it divides the earth into two equal halves: the
Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
b) ____________________:
 The 90th parallels are called the North Pole (_________) and South Pole (_________).
 They mark the earth’s axis (the line around which the earth rotates).
c) _____________________:
Tropic of Cancer
______________
Tropic of Capricorn ______________
 These imaginary lines mark the area of the earth that can have the sun _______________.
The sun will never be directly overhead north of 23.5° N or south of 23.5° S.
 Between these lines is the hottest part of the world (the tropics).
d) _____________________:
The Arctic Circle
______________
The Antarctic Circle ______________
 These imaginary lines mark the zones of _____________________darkness or light.
 In winter, the areas between these lines and the corresponding pole will be dark for
several months.
 In summer, these areas will experience twenty-four hour daylight for several months.
2.
of longitude
 On the globe there are imaginary
lines that run from the North Pole to
the South Pole. These lines are called
meridians or longitude lines.
 There are _________ meridians.
Meridians are numbered from the 0°
going East to 180° and going West to
180°.
 These numbers represent the
_________ from the Prime Meridian.
 Figure B shows the two most
important meridians and how
meridians are drawn on a map with a
view from above the North Pole.
a) _____________________:
 The most important line of longitude is the Prime Meridian (0⁰).
 This line runs through Greenwich England (so it is also called the _________________).
 All other lines are measured either East or West of this line.
b) _____________________:
 Directly across from the Prime Meridian is the International Date Line, which
approximately follows the 180° Meridian.
 This line moves a little bit in order to go around land masses and islands.
 At this line, the date _____________ one entire day. For instance, if it is Monday in
China, it is Sunday in Canada.
 If it is Tuesday in Tonga, it is Monday in Samoa at exactly the same time!
3.
coordinates (Latitude and Longitude)
 The longitude and latitude of a place are called its ___________________. Longitude
and latitude are first measured in degrees.
 Each degree can then be divided into sixty parts called _____________ for more
accuracy. Likewise, each minute can be divided into sixty parts called _____________
in order to be very accurate.
 Degrees are usually shown with a °. Minutes are usually shown with a ´. Seconds are
shown with a ˝. Sometimes, the symbols for degree, minute, and second are not actually
given.
 Seconds are very accurate and would be used to show _______. For example, New York
could be shown with degrees and minutes. Seconds would be used to show the location
of places in New York, such as the Empire State Building (40° 44′ 54″ N 73° 59′ 08″W)
off coordinates
 In an atlas, the coordinates are usually given with both degrees and minutes.
 Often the minutes are not actually needed and actually make it harder to find a location
on a map.
 In these situations, it is important to know how to round off.
 When thinking of rounding off, it is important to remember that there are _____________
in one degree.
 So, _______ of that is 30 minutes. Anything below 30 minutes will round ____________.
Anything 30 minutes or higher will round ___________.
Example 1:
_____________ is located at 49° 06′ N
122° 40′ W
If we need to round off, we need to remember that there are sixty minutes in each degree. If we
wrote these coordinates as a mixed fraction it would look like this:
Langley is located at 49° 06/60′ N
122° 40′/60 W
In this example 49° 06/60′ N would round down to 49° N, since 06/60′ is less than 30/60′.
However, 122° 40/60′ W would round up to 123° W, since 40/60′ is more than 30/60.
Exercise:
Round off the following sets of coordinates.
1. 14°32′ N
22°28′ W
__________________________
2. 80°50′ S
30°15′ E
__________________________
3. 25°30′ N
29°30′ E
__________________________
4. 89°50′ N
179°05′ W
__________________________
Latitude and Longitude: Basic Skills
There are two basic skills you need to master in order to use latitude and longitude:
1. Find a place when you are given the coordinates.
2. Find the coordinates when you are given the name of a place.
Part 1: Find a place when you are given the coordinates.
Step 1 – Round off to the nearest degree if necessary.
Step 2 – Find the nearest major latitude & longitude lines (usually every 10º).
Step 3 – Find the intersection of those lines.
Step 4 – Move from that intersection to where you estimate the coordinates are.
10º E
20º E
30º E
20º N
10º N
0º
10º S
M
O
Q
4º N 8º E
14º 35’N 28º 28’ E
27º 46’N 36º 20’ E
N
P
7º S 32º E
8º 42’S 3º 13’ E
Part 2: Find the coordinates when you are given the name of a place.
Step 1 – Find the location on the map.
Step 2 – Move from that location to the nearest intersection of major lines (usually every 10º).
Step 3 – Find out the coordinates of that major intersection.
Step 4 – Estimate the coordinates to the nearest degree.
Step 5 – Estimate the minutes, if necessary.
Step 6 – Check your answers in the gazetteer if it is available.
10º E
20º E
30º E
■A
20º N
■B
10º N
■C
0º
■D
10º S
■E
A _____________ B _____________ C _____________ D _____________ E _____________
The diagram below (Figure C) illustrates how to use this information to round off the location of
a place to the nearest degree. The solid lines refer to degree lines. The dotted lines mark the
half-way mark between degrees (or the 30 minutes lines). As can be seen here, 12° N 80°E is
surrounded by a dotted square. Anything located in this square will round off to 12° N 80°E.
Anything outside that dotted square will round off to another set of coordinates.
Point A is located at 11 59 N 79 50 E. From the coordinates and the diagram we can see that it
will round up to 12° N 80°E.
Point C is located at 12 25 N 80 20 E. . From the coordinates and the diagram we can see that it
will round down 12° N 80°E.
Exercise:
1. Estimate the degrees and minutes for:
B ___________________________
D ___________________________
2. Round off to the nearest degree.
B ___________________________
D ___________________________
Latitude and Longitude Review Sheet #1
Name: ______________
Block: ______________
Date:______________
/15
Latitude
1. The ______________is the imaginary line that divides the Earth in two, north and south.
2. Other imaginary lines that run in the same direction are called ______________________.
3. There are ______________ degrees between the equator and the North Pole.
4. How many degrees of latitude are there in total?
5. Which parallel is the longest?
6. Which parallels are the shortest? (Trick question, be careful).
7. Latitude is always measured in ___________________
8. 0° represents the ___________________
9. 90°N represents the ___________________
10. 90°S represents the ___________________
Longitude
11. The imaginary line that divides the Earth in two, east and west is the_________________
12. The other imaginary lines running in the same direction are called _______________
13. The ____________________________ follows the 180th Meridian for the most part.
14. Being between Greenwich and _______W indicates west longitude.
15. How many degrees of longitude are there in total?
Latitude and Longitude Practice
World Map
Name: ______________
Block: ______________
Date:______________
/15
A. Use the World Map from the back page of the Pearson atlas to answer these questions. Only
one answer is right.
1. Does 30°S cross Argentina or Bolivia? _______________________
2. Does 60°N cross Denmark or Sweden? _______________________
3. Does 30°N cross Iran or Oman?
_______________________
4. Does 30°E cross Sudan or Ethiopia?
_______________________
5. Does 60°W cross Uruguay or Paraguay? _______________________
B. Use your atlas to fill in the chart below. You will need to use both the gazetteer and the
World Map or more detailed continent maps. All of the cities are major cities with populations
over 1 million people. Round off your answers to the nearest degree of latitude and longitude.
Coordinates
1.
2.
42 N 12 E
3.
4.
Hong Kong
34 S 151 E
5.
6.
Mexico City
59 N 18 E
7.
8.
Chittagong
30 N 31 E
9.
10.
City
Rio de Janeiro
Johannesburg
38 N 122 W
Country