Latitude and Longitude

Latitude and Longitude are the names we give to the coordinates we use to find our where places are on the Earth.

Because the Earth is a like a big ball, it is easier to use angles rather than just kilometres or miles.

A Latitude of 30° North means that you are 30 degrees North of the Equator

A Longitude of 35° West means that you are 35 degrees West of the Greenwich Meridian

A Latitude tells us how far North or South of the Equator we are. You can see an example of a Latitude in the above figure on the left.

A Longitude tells us how far East or West of the Greenwich Meridian we are (as you can see in the right diagram above). The Greenwich Meridian is an imaginary line going around the World from the North Pole, through Greenwich in London, down to the South Pole and then back up the other side to the North Pole again.

Using these two coordinates, we can find any place on Earth.