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NOAA National Ocean Service
oceanservice.noaa.gov › facts › longitude.html
What is longitude?
Lines of longitude, also called meridians, are imaginary lines that divide the Earth. They run north to south from pole to pole, but they measure the distance east or west. Longitude is measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface
Longitude (/ˈlɒndʒɪtjuːd/, AU and UK also /ˈlɒŋɡɪ-/) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an … Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Longitude
Longitude - Wikipedia
4 weeks ago - Longitude (/ˈlɒndʒɪtjuːd/, ... in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Meridians are imaginary semicircular lines running from pole to pole that connect points with the same longitude....
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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 ...
What is the distance per degree of longitude?
The distance per degree of longitude at the Equator is about 111.32 km (69.18 miles) and at the poles, 0.
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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 ...
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Humboldt State University
gsp.humboldt.edu › olm › Lessons › GIS › 01 SphericalCoordinates › Latitude_and_Longitude.html
GSP 270: Latitude and Longitude
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).
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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › philosophy & religion › humanities
Latitude and longitude | Definition, Examples, Diagrams, & Facts | Britannica
2 weeks ago - ... Lines of latitude (also called ... (also called meridians) run between the geographic North Pole and the geographic South Pole and are used to measure distances from the prime meridian....
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Journeynorth
archive.journeynorth.org › tm › LongitudeIntro.html
Understanding Latitude and Longitude
Longitude lines are a numerical way to show/measure how far a location is east or west of a universal vertical line called the Prime Meridian. This Prime Meridian line runs vertically, north and south, right over the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich England, from the North Pole to the ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askscience › why were lines of longitude defined differently from lines of latitude? (ie not parallel)
r/askscience on Reddit: Why were lines of longitude defined differently from lines of latitude? (ie not parallel)
October 20, 2023 -

I understand that lines of longitude converge at the poles, but why were they made to do that when lines of latitude run parallel to each other?

Or maybe what I want to know is, why don’t we have another set of lines that run north and south but remain parallel to each other?

I think I can understand why you don’t need converging lines that run east to west, but if parallel lines are helpful running east and west, wouldn’t they be helpful running north and south too?

Edit: Apologies that this is so unclear, it was very hard to find the wording to convey my question. Maybe what I should have asked is, why is it helpful to measure latitudinally using nearly cylindrical parallel divisions, where we measure the earth longitudinally in converging divisions that make a shape like an orange carpel (again, I am running out of words here).

Second Edit: CrustalTrudger helped me understand that the lines of longitude and latitude were defined as they were primarily because of their relation to the sun and the poles and their usefulness in navigation. The lines of longitude are not just measuring the difference between places on the earth, but instead are something like tracking the places which are directly under the sun at the same time. This would have been more practical at the time than covering the globe in a grid of arbitrary parallel lines. The latitudinal lines are even distances from the equator which has significance in relation to both the sun and the poles.

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It's worth starting with the problem that lines of longitude - defined as great circles that pass through the rotational axis of the planet - solved. Specifically, in early navigation (primarily at sea), measuring latitude was relatively simple because either through observation of the sun position or star positions you could work out how far north or south you were of the equator. This is in part because that the equator is not an arbitrary line as it's defined as the great circle (the only line of latitude that is a great circle) 90 degrees from the rotational axis of the planet (and this is why it makes sense to define lines of latitude that represent fixed angular distances from the equator as what you were measuring was the angular distance from the equator and/or from the pole). In contrast, figuring out how far east or west you were while at sea was more challenging. The idea behind longitude was to define great circles where positions along a singe line of longitude reflect locations where the sun will be at its zenith at precisely the same time. Then, with precision time keeping, a reference point (the prime meridian), and the difference between your local zenith time and the zenith time at the prime meridian, you could work out how far west or east you were in angular distance. This would not work with lines of longitude that were parallel. If we imagine that now with more advanced ways of measuring positions there's nothing necessarily tying us to lines of longitude as originally defined, there are a few problems that pop up. One is again related to time. Specifically, from above, one property of a line of longitude is that it represents points along the surface of the Earth at the same time with respect to the position of the sun in the sky. A system with parallel lines of longitude would not maintain this property (except at whatever arbitrary position you defined the equator equivalent in this hypothetical longitude system). More importantly, if we imagine a system where both lines of longitude and latitude were internally parallel (and orthogonal to each other), we've introduced a non-uniqueness to coordinates. At present, latitude spans -90 to 90 degrees and longitude spans from -180 to 180 (or 0 to 360) so each point on the surface has a unique coordinate pair. However, if we had a system where longitude spans from -90 to 90, any coordinate would represent two possible locations. I.e. a coordinate of 0 latitude, 0 longitude could represent either of the two possible intersections (on opposite sides of the globe) of the latitude equator and longitude equator, and the same would be true for every intersection of lines of longitude and latitude. It probably goes without saying, non-uniqueness is a really bad property for any proposed coordinate system. The arbitrary nature of the position of the "equator" and "poles" of this hypothetical version of longitude is also a bit of a problem, or at least, it introduces a pretty annoying set of properties to a coordinate system designed in this way.
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We're on a rotating sphere. The coordinates are defined relative to this rotation. The E/W direction (in which the latitude lines run) is the direction we're rotating in, and the N/S direction points perpendicular to that. Or equivalently, N/S points towards the points where the axis of rotation passes through the surface of the earth. We have two distinguished points by the rotation at the North and South pole. We don't have an "East and West pole". Furthermore, the axis of rotation nearly lines up with the magnetic poles, so thinking of N/S as "the direction a compass points in" is also very useful. The rotation based coordinate system also makes navigation via the stars much easier, with "north" being "towards Polaris" basically (the star that doesn't appear to move as the earth rotates).
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Geosciences LibreTexts
geo.libretexts.org › bookshelves › geology › introduction to historical geology (johnson et al.) › 7: geologic and topographic mapping
7.2: Latitude and Longitude - Geosciences LibreTexts
August 24, 2024 - Lines running east-west are called lines of latitude or parallels; those running north-south are called lines of longitude, or meridians. The intersection of latitude and longitude lines describes any point on the Earth’s surface.
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BBC
bbc.co.uk › bitesize › articles › zd4rmfr
What is longitude and latitude? - BBC Bitesize
January 20, 2025 - If I want to see where a place is in the world, I just need to look at where the lines cross, and read the numbers. Ah, there he is! Latitude is 32 degrees south, and longitude is 115 degrees east.
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Britannica Kids
kids.britannica.com › students › article › latitude-and-longitude › 275388
latitude and longitude - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help
Commonly called a grid system, it is made up of two sets of lines that cross each other. One set—lines of latitude—runs in an east-west direction. The other set—lines of longitude—runs in a north-south direction.
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Twinkl
twinkl.com › teaching-wiki › longitude-lines
What are Longitude Lines? Definition of Longitude in Geography
Download FREE teacher-made resources covering 'Longitude Lines' ... The definition of longitude lines is that they are geographical coordinates that are used to determine the east and west points on the Earth’s surface.
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Geography Realm
geographyrealm.com › home › articles › latitude and longitude explained: how to read geographic coordinates
Latitude and Longitude Explained: How to Read Geographic Coordinates - Geography Realm
August 16, 2024 - There are 360 degrees of longitude (+180° eastward and −180° westward.). The longitude line of 0 degrees is known as the Prime Meridian and it divides the world into the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.
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Study.com
study.com › science courses › geology 101: physical geology
Longitude | Definition & Examples - Lesson | Study.com
January 19, 2017 - Lines of longitude and latitude are imaginary grid lines covering the Earth and forming a system running north/south and east/west, respectively. These grid lines are called a geographic coordinate system.
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ThoughtCo
thoughtco.com › longitude-geography-overview-1435188
Lines of Longitude in Geography
April 9, 2019 - On a map (diagram), lines of longitude are the vertical lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole and are perpendicular to lines of latitude. Every line of longitude also crosses the equator.
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Geosciences LibreTexts
geo.libretexts.org › campus bookshelves › kansas state university › physical geography: our beautiful world › 1: essentials of geography › 1.3: locational systems
1.3.1: Latitude and Longitude - Geosciences LibreTexts
April 27, 2024 - Latitude and longitude comprises a grid system of lines encircling the globe and is used to determine the locations of points on the earth. Lines of latitude, also called parallels, run east - west. Latitude lines always run parallel to each other, and hence, they are always an equal distance apart.
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Australian National Maritime Museum
sea.museum › en › article › a-beginners-guide-to-longitude
A beginners guide to longitude | Australian National Maritime Museum
The equator represents 0° and each pole represents 90°. Each degree of latitude corresponds with 60 nautical miles, or 111.1 kilometres, on the Earth’s surface. Longitude – Lines of longitude, called meridians, run vertically from pole to pole.
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National Geographic
education.nationalgeographic.org › resource › longitude
Longitude - National Geographic Education
Longitude is the measurement east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude is measured by imaginary lines that run around Earth vertically (up and down) and meet at the North and South Poles. These lines are known as meridians.
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Britannica Kids
kids.britannica.com › kids › article › latitude-and-longitude › 353366
latitude and longitude - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help
Latitude and longitude are a system of lines used to describe the location of any place on Earth. Lines of latitude run in an east-west direction across Earth. Lines of longitude run in a north-south direction.
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MapTools
maptools.com › tutorials › lat_lon › definitions
Lattitude and Longitude Defined - Latitude
Lines of latitude measure north-south position between the poles. The equator is defined as 0 degrees, the North Pole is 90 degrees north, and the South Pole is 90 degrees south. Lines of latitude are all parallel to each other, thus they are often referred to as parallels.
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University of Hawaii
www2.hawaii.edu › ~dennis › GeoBook › chapter_1 › longitude.htm
Longitude - Geography 101
Longitude lines (also called meridians) run perpendicular to latitude lines and form half-circle arcs between the North and South Poles. They are defined by the angle from the Earth's spin axis to a point east or west of the Prime Meridian at 0° longitude as shown below.
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › dictionary › longitude
Definition of LONGITUDE
1 month ago - The imaginary (but very important) lines of longitude run from the North Pole to the South Pole. Each is identified by the number of degrees it lies east or west of the so-called prime meridian in Greenwich, England (part of London).