Cartographical marker at 0°N, 0°E
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Null Island. Null Island is the location at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude ( 0°N 0°E / 0°N 0°E), i.e., where the prime meridian … Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Null_Island
Null Island - Wikipedia
2 days ago - Null Island is the location at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude ( 0°N 0°E / 0°N 0°E), i.e., where the prime meridian and the equator intersect in the Atlantic Ocean near the Gulf of Guinea. Since there is no landmass located at these coordinates, it is not an actual island.
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ThoughtCo
thoughtco.com › prime-meridian-and-the-equator-intersect-4070819
Where on Earth Are 0 Degrees Latitude and 0 Degrees Longitude?
May 9, 2025 - It's pure coincidence that the coordinate of 0 degrees latitude, 0 degrees longitude (0,0) falls in the middle of a little-known body of water, about 380 miles south of Ghana and 670 miles west of Gabon.
Discussions

cartography - Is there a name for the geographic coordinate 0,0? - Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange
Is there a name for the latitude/longitude pair 0,0? On a graph, (0,0) is referred to as the "origin" but I'm not sure if that term also applies to the location 0,0 in cartography. More on gis.stackexchange.com
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I dont know why, but i found 0 degrees latitude and longitude
It was always right there where they left it. More on reddit.com
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July 28, 2023
Null Island: 0° lat & lon, i.e., where the prime meridian and equator intersect. It is not an actual island. It is often used in mapping software as a placeholder to help correct databases. Started as a joke, it is now a useful means of addressing a recurring issue in geographic information science.
Honestly thank God we chose a system of coordinates in which 0 0 is ocean. Imagine the hassle for the inhabitants of that place otherwise More on reddit.com
🌐 r/wikipedia
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September 29, 2024
TIL about Null Island, the location at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude (0°N 0°E), i.e. where the prime meridian and the equator intersect. Since there is no landmass located at these coordinates, it is not an actual island.
Why not call it "Null point" then? More on reddit.com
🌐 r/todayilearned
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June 26, 2025
People also ask

What is latitude?
Latitude is a measurement on a globe or map of location north or south of the Equator. Technically, there are different kinds of latitude, which are geocentric, astronomical, and geographic (or geodetic), but there are only minor differences between them.
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britannica.com
britannica.com › philosophy & religion › humanities
Latitude and longitude | Definition, Examples, Diagrams, & Facts ...
What is the length of a degree of latitude?
The length of a degree of arc of latitude is approximately 111 km (69 miles), varying, because of the nonuniformity of Earth’s curvature, from 110.567 km (68.706 miles) at the Equator to 111.699 km (69.41 miles) at the poles.
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britannica.com
britannica.com › philosophy & religion › humanities
Latitude and longitude | Definition, Examples, Diagrams, & Facts ...
What is longitude?
Longitude is a measurement of location east or west of the prime meridian at Greenwich, London, England, the specially designated imaginary north-south line that passes through both geographic poles and Greenwich. Longitude is measured 180° both east and west of the prime meridian.
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britannica.com
britannica.com › philosophy & religion › humanities
Latitude and longitude | Definition, Examples, Diagrams, & Facts ...
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Geography Realm
geographyrealm.com › home › articles › what is at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude?
What is at Zero Degrees Latitude and Zero Degrees Longitude? - Geography Realm
April 29, 2025 - Map: Caitlin Dempsey. Where the Earth’s zero degrees latitude (the Equator) and zero degrees longitude (the Prime Meridian) cross each other (0°N 0°E), is known as a degree confluence.
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LOC
blogs.loc.gov › maps › 2016 › 04 › the-geographical-oddity-of-null-island
The Geographical Oddity of Null Island | Worlds Revealed
Artistic fantasy map of Null Island. Graphic by Ian Cairns on GitHub 2013. Null Island is an imaginary island located at 0°N 0°E (hence “Null”) in the South Atlantic Ocean.
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Mapscaping
mapscaping.com › 0-0-coordinates
Coordinates 0, 0 & The Origin Of Null Island - Mapscaping.com
March 7, 2026 - Null Island is a reference to a location on the Earth’s surface that is said to exist at the coordinates “0 degrees latitude, 0 degrees longitude”. These coordinates are at the intersection of the equator and the prime meridian, which ...
Find elsewhere
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IFLScience
iflscience.com › what-is-at-coordinate-00-on-earth-80514
Is There Anything Actually At Coordinate 0,0 On Earth? | IFLScience
August 22, 2025 - At some point, this area jokingly became known as "Null Island", brought to the attention of the public after volunteer geographers at Natural Earth manually drew the island onto their public domain map. “[Null Island] is a fictional, 1-meter-square island located off Africa where the equator and prime meridian cross...
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Journeynorth
archive.journeynorth.org › tm › LongitudeIntro.html
Understanding Latitude and Longitude
The equator is the starting point for measuring latitude--that's why it's marked as 0 degrees latitude. The number of latitude degrees will be larger the further away from the equator the place is located, all the way up to 90 degrees latitude at the poles. Latitude locations are given as __ ...
Top answer
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The point at (0°, 0°) is not generally given a name

All geographers, cartographers and surveyors ought to know the following, but I reference some sources anyway:

According to Matt Rosenberg

The point at which the equator (0° latitude) and the prime meridian (0° longitude) intersect has no real significance but it is in the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, about 380 miles (611 kilometers) south of Ghana and 670 miles (1078 km) west of Gabon.

Also, according to wiki/Geographic_coordinate_system#Geographic_latitude_and_longitude

The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator ...

The meridian of the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich, a little east of London, England, is the international Prime Meridian ... [is the 0° meridian]

...

The grid thus formed by latitude and longitude is known as the "graticule". The zero/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km (390 mi) south of Tema, Ghana.

And at Fact Monster's Geography Glossary:

Zero degrees (0°) latitude is the equator ... Zero degrees longitude (0°) is called the prime meridian.

While "the origin" might well work – after all, that is what we call (0, 0) on a plane coordinate system – the point at (0°, 0°), on a spheroidal system, is not generally given a name. Certainly, none of the above (3 refs) give it a name, and until now, I'd never heard of Null Island.

On the other hand, when referring specifically to geodetic coordinate systems, the use of the term "origin" usually refers to one of three things, none of which are at (0°, 0°):

  • the very center of the ellipsoid representing the Earth (see wiki/Geodetic_datum#Other_Earth-based_coordinate_systems or wiki/World_Geodetic_System#Main_parameters)
  • the datum or place, on the surface, used to relate the mathematical model and the physical Earth (see wiki/Geodetic_datum#Reference_datums)
  • the center a map projection or standard lines of a given projection, where the distortion is zero (see geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~jochen...Map coordinate systems/Projection parameters or georeference.org/doc/lambert_conformal_conic) NB: The center of a map projection could very well be at (0°, 0°) but it is not generally so.
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It's "there where all the data shows up when something goes wrong". At least that's how I call it, or how I often detect when something went wrong.

Others would call it Null Island, which is often used in a humorous way. For an occasional good laugh I would recommend some of the Null Island accounts on Twitter, such as Null Island Gang, Maptime Null Island, or Null Island.

But joking aside, as the Wikipedia article states:

Although intended humorously, the fiction has a serious purpose and is used by mapping systems to trap errors

As I stated above, when somthing ends up there, in most cases, it should not be there.

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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › philosophy & religion › humanities
Latitude and longitude | Definition, Examples, Diagrams, & Facts | Britannica
3 weeks ago - Lines of longitude east of the prime meridian (the line that marks 0° longitude) are numbered from 1° to 179° east (E). Lines of longitude west of the prime meridian are numbered from 1° to 179° west (W). The 180th meridian, or 180°—which ...
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GIS Geography
gisgeography.com › home › maps & cartography › lost in null island: the curious origin of 0,0
Lost in Null Island: The Curious Origin of 0,0 - GIS Geography
August 13, 2023 - When you zoom into its full extent, ... to “Null Island” (0°N latitude and 0°E longitude). This is not that exciting of an image, but you can see how it’s in the Atlantic Ocean and still takes the same shape as it should (but just in the wrong spot!). ... First, let’s take a look at one set of coordinates from the table. If you have a latitude coordinate of 51.044° and a longitude coordinate of -114.072°, you can see in the map below that it’s roughly in Calgary, Canada...
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BatchGeo
blog.batchgeo.com › home › cities around the world by latitude and longitude
Cities Around the World by Latitude and Longitude - BatchGeo
April 17, 2026 - The map shows 22 cities that are within two and a half degrees of the equator. You can find them by using the grouping function in the lower left corner of the map. Choose “Near Latitude” and then choose the 5 to -10 range.
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Plateau Astro
plateauastro.com › blog › 2023-12-20 › take-me-null-island
Take me to Null Island | Plateau Astro
December 20, 2023 - If you're at the Equator, we say you're at 0° latitude. If you go north 1°, we say your location is 1° N, and if you go south, you're at 1° S. So, this place is at the Equator (notice the dashed line in the map above indicating that).
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NOAA National Ocean Service
oceanservice.noaa.gov › facts › latitude.html
What is latitude?
The area north of the equator is labeled Northern Hemisphere; the area south of the equator is labeled Southern Hemisphere. Latitude lines are labeled from the north pole (90 degrees north) to the equator (0 degrees) and down to the south pole ...
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Big Think
bigthink.com › strange-maps › null-island
Welcome to Null Island, where lost data goes to die - Big Think
October 5, 2023 - A rare image of “Soul Buoy” at zero degrees latitude, zero degrees longitude, a location also known as “Null Island.” (Credit: NOAA National Data Buoy Center / Public domain) For another example of non-existent places acquiring solidity, ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/maps › i dont know why, but i found 0 degrees latitude and longitude
r/Maps on Reddit: I dont know why, but i found 0 degrees latitude and longitude
July 28, 2023 - Beautiful, interesting, and informative maps. ... This is null island, a permanent buoy marking where the equator and prime meridian intersect. at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude (0°N 0°E)
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Quora
quora.com › What-do-0-degrees-longitude-and-0-degrees-latitude-mean
What do 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude mean? - Quora
Answer (1 of 12): 0 degrees longitude describes the Prime Meridian. It’s a line of longitude that extends from pole to pole, directly through Greenwich England. It has been chosen as the longitude from which all other longitudes are measured ...
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Mandry-Club
mandry.club › home page › useful information › earth’s zero point: what lies at coordinates 0,0 in the atlantic ocean
Earth's Zero Point: The Mystery of Null Island at 0,0 Coordinates– Mandry-Club
October 27, 2025 - Discover the truth about Null Island at coordinates 0,0 in the Atlantic Ocean. This guide explores the fictional island's origin, its real ocean buoy, and why it's the map's error capital