Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 14 views

    Latitude & Longitude

    Uploaded by

    Danang Prayogi
    Latitude and longitude are used to describe specific points on Earth. Latitude lines run parallel to the equator and indicate north/south position, while longitude lines run perpendicular and indicate east/west position. Latitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the equator to 90 at the poles, while longitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the prime meridian in Greenwich, England to 180 degrees east and west. Together, latitude and longitude provide a global coordinate system to precisely locate any place on Earth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Latitude & Longitude

    Uploaded by

    Danang Prayogi
    14 views3 pages
    Latitude and longitude are used to describe specific points on Earth. Latitude lines run parallel to the equator and indicate north/south position, while longitude lines run perpendicular and indicate east/west position. Latitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the equator to 90 at the poles, while longitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the prime meridian in Greenwich, England to 180 degrees east and west. Together, latitude and longitude provide a global coordinate system to precisely locate any place on Earth.

    Original Description:

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Latitude and longitude are used to describe specific points on Earth. Latitude lines run parallel to the equator and indicate north/south position, while longitude lines run perpendicular and indicate east/west position. Latitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the equator to 90 at the poles, while longitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the prime meridian in Greenwich, England to 180 degrees east and west. Together, latitude and longitude provide a global coordinate system to precisely locate any place on Earth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    14 views3 pages

    Latitude & Longitude

    Uploaded by

    Danang Prayogi
    Latitude and longitude are used to describe specific points on Earth. Latitude lines run parallel to the equator and indicate north/south position, while longitude lines run perpendicular and indicate east/west position. Latitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the equator to 90 at the poles, while longitude is measured in degrees from 0 at the prime meridian in Greenwich, England to 180 degrees east and west. Together, latitude and longitude provide a global coordinate system to precisely locate any place on Earth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Latitude & Longitude

    Latitude & Longitude


    In order to be able to describe a particular point on the earth, we need an artificial coordinate system
    which we can use to describe the spot. Remember that system you used to use in the game
    "Battleship®"? That coordinate system used letters to describe the vertical plane, and numbers to
    describe the horizontal.

    In real world navigating, several coordinate systems


    are in use, but for our purposes we will be using
    latitude and longitude for our coordinates.

    The world is roughly shaped as a sphere, being


    about 21,638 nautical miles in diameter at the
    equator. In navigation, we use the "nautical" mile
    for reasons which will be clear later in this module.
    For now, just know that it is 6076 feet as opposed to
    the statute mile at 5280 feet, or about 1.15 larger
    than the statute mile.

    Latitude

    Ok now imagine the earth is an orange. Let's assign


    some base-line coordinates. Put a dot on the very top and another at the bottom to represent the north &
    south poles. Next draw a line completely around the waist of the orange and dividing it in half. This is
    the equator. Continue drawing circles around the orange and parallel to the equator. These are "parallels
    of latitude." Now pay attention to this concept: Each parallel of latitude describes a vertical point on the
    earth. But wait, you say. Those latitude thingies are horizontal. Yeah, but like the numbers in our
    battleship coordinate system, they're specifying a point on the vertical plane.

    http://home.att.net/~agligani/navigation/latitude.htm (1 of 3)21/02/2006 15:52:18


    Latitude & Longitude

    Each parallel is named with the number of degrees it represents from the equator (which is designated 0
    degrees) Thus we go from the equator to 90 degrees north (the north pole). New York is approximately
    40 degrees north, Houston is 30 north, and Moscow about 57 north. Because these places are all above
    the equator and within the northern hemisphere, these parallels are labeled north.

    South of the equator we begin again at zero, continuing to the south pole which is 90 degrees south.
    Some southern hemisphere places: Capetown 34 degrees south, Rio de Janeiro 23 degrees south, and the
    Falkland Islands at 52 degrees south.

    Each degree of latitude is further divided into 60 minutes of latitude. Each minute is again divided into
    60 seconds of latitude. In navigation we usually deal with whole degrees, minutes, and tenths of a
    minute. More on that later, but REMEMBER THIS: Each minute of latitude is EQUAL to one nautical
    mile. Now let's do the math: 90 degrees of latitude from the equator to the north pole. So 90 degrees
    times 60 minutes equals 5400 miles. This is the distance from the equator to the north pole.

    Longitude

    Well we've got the vertical plane covered, now for the horizontal. Take that orange of yours and draw
    circles around it with each circle going through each pole. we'll call these lines meridians of longitude.
    We'll start at the first, or prime meridian. Because the British Royal Observatory is located in Greenwich
    England, the prime meridian of longitude runs through Greenwich. It is labeled zero degrees. Meridians
    are labeled from zero to 180 going east and west. 180 degrees is on the opposite side of the world from
    Greenwich.

    So meridians are imaginary circles around the earth


    that converge at both poles. IMPORTANT CONCEPT:
    meridians are NOT parallel to each other as lines of
    latitude are. Meridians are however, considered Great
    Circles. A great circle is a circle drawn around the
    earth that, if the earth were sliced along it, would slice
    through the center core of the earth. Parallels of

    http://home.att.net/~agligani/navigation/latitude.htm (2 of 3)21/02/2006 15:52:18


    Latitude & Longitude

    latitude are NOT great circles, except for one, the


    equator. More on great circles when we get to the
    Charting module.

    HOME | LINKS | MAIL

    Copyright © 1999-2000 Navigate!

    http://home.att.net/~agligani/navigation/latitude.htm (3 of 3)21/02/2006 15:52:18

    You might also like