Grade 9 Applied Geography - Unit 1 Inquiry and Skills Development
Lines of Latitude and Longitude
Latitude and Longitude lines
 Created to pinpoint locations on the Earth’s surface
 Imaginary lines
 Measured in degrees, minutes and seconds
Latitude
 Lines that are parallel and never meet; called parallels of latitude
 Measured north and south
 Measured from the equator – 0ON/S
 Each parallel is 1 degree apart = 111 km
UNIQUE Lines of Latitude include…
 Arctic Circle – 66.5ON
 Tropic of Cancer – 23.5ON
 Equator – 0ON/S
 Tropic of Capricorn – 23.5OS
 Antarctic Circle – 66.5OS
Longitude
 Lines that meet at the poles; called meridians of longitude
 Measured east and west
 Measured from the Prime Meridian – 0OE/W
UNIQUE Lines of Longitude include...
 Prime Meridian – 0OE/W
 International Date Line – 180OE/W
What is a GAZETTEER?
 An index found at the back of an atlas
 Uses grid location as well as latitude and longitude coordinates to help you locate places
throughout the atlas
How to Locate Latitude and Longitude
 When locating a point on a map or a latitude and longitude grid, you must always find the latitude
FIRST.
 Therefore, you want to know how far NORTH or SOUTH of the Equator (0 ON/S) the location is.
 Once you have found the latitude, you can find the longitude.
 This means you want to know how far EAST or WEST of the Prime Meridian (0 OE/W) the
location is.
Example:
Each of the lines represents 10 O
0o
20oN
0o
10oE
The location (i.e. the spot) would be 10 S, 10 W (because it is one line BELOW the Equator and one
line LEFT of the Prime Meridian.
o
o
Grade 9 Applied Geography - Unit 1 Inquiry and Skills Development
Maps – Latitudes and Longitudes
Label the Latitudes and Longitudes on the world map
90º N
45º N
0º Latitude
45º S
90º S
180º W
135º W
90º W
45º W
0º Longitude
45º E
90º E
135º E
180º E
Clue – The world is 3600
Maps – Latitudes and Longitudes
Answers / Teacher Copy