The lines running North to South are called "Meridians" or "lines of longitude" (Figure 2), while the lines running East to West are called "Parallels" or "lines of latitude" (Figure 3).įigure 2. You've seen lines running across maps your whole life and may not have noticed them. With an angle of longitude and an angle of latitude, we can locate any point on the surface of the earth. Latitudes measure an angle up from the equator (latitudes to the south are negative).įigure 1. A longitude is an angle from the prime merdian, measured to the east (longitudes to the west are negative). Both longitude and latitude are angles measured with the center of the earth as an origin. The most common system for locating points on the earth is with "Longitudes" and "Latitudes". When we describe the Earth in spherical coordinates it is called Geographic, or Un-projected.
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