Latitude and Longitude Map
The quest for the location of a place on the earth is eternal. From time immemorial, the people on this planet wanted to know where they stay in relation to others. In ancient Greece and China, attempts were made to find a logical solution to this puzzle. It was ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy who made a grid system and aligned the coordinates for places known to him in his book Geography. But all these efforts couldn't put into practice until the middle ages. It is only in the middle period that a system of latitude and longitude was developed and executed.
Latitude:
To have a better grasp of the term latitude, we can assume the Earth as a sphere.
As we all know the earth spins on an its axis. The terminals of the the axis are termed North and South Poles. The line of the Equator is at the same distance from both the poles. Besides, it is also a latitude line which is given the value of 0 degrees. It is the starting point from where the measuring of the latitude starts. Latitude values signifies the angular distance between the Equator and points on north or south of it and help us find a location on the earth.
The line which connects all the points on the earth with the same latitude value is termed as a line of latitude. The line of latitude refer to the terms that represent values in whole degrees. All the lines of latitude lies parallel to the Equator and are termed as parallels. Parallels are equally spaced. While going from equator to the north Pole there are 90 degrees of latitude hence it is said that the North Pole is at 90 degrees N. Similarly, while going from equator to South Pole there are 90 degrees of latitude and it is called that South Pole is at 90 degrees S. When there is no directional designators, northern latitudes are identified in terms of positive values and southern latitudes in terms of negative values.
These geographic coordinates help locate a place on the earth.
The knowledge of longitude and latitude is also important from a general perspective. As we have discussed latitude let us deliberate on longitude.
Longitude:
The lines on the globe perpendicular to the line of the latitude are called lines of longitudes. These lines pass thorough both the poles, south and north. Several starting points for the longitude has been used in the due course of history before an agreement was reached to use the Royal observatory, Greenwich, London as an starting point. This place is considered as a prime meridian. This line shows the location of a place in relation to the Greenwich meridian in a east west manner. The lines of longitudes differs from those of the latitude that there is no obvious zero degree on the longitude scale.
Our very own planet Earth comprise of is 360 degrees of longitude, out of which 180 degrees of longitude lies east of the Prime Meridian and rest of the longitude lies west of it. The longitudes east of the prime meridian are given positive values while those of west of the prime meridian are given negative values. An insightful understanding of lines of longitude and longitude is good for scholars, students and even a common man.
