Mapping Our WorldChapter 2

Latitude and Longitude

Section 2.1

Mapping

What do people use maps for?

People use maps to define borders and find places.

Who makes maps?

Cartographers - scientists that make maps

Use an imaginary grid of parallel lines and vertical lines to locate points on the earth exactly

Latitude

What is latitude?

Equator - separates Earth into two equal halves called the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere

Lines of Latitude - lines running parallel to the equator

Latitude

How is latitude measured?

Latitude - the distance in degrees north or south of the equator

The equator is a reference point for latitude

0° latitude

The poles are each numbered 90° latitude

Each degree latitude is equivalent to 111 km on Earth’s surface

Latitude

Longitude

How do we locate positions in east and west directions?

Lines of Longitude - used to locate positions in east and west directions

Meridians - lines of longitude

Longitude

How is longitude measured?

Longitude - the distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian

Not parallel lines, like latitude

Large semicircles that extend from pole to pole

Prime meridian - the reference point for longitude (0° longitude)

Passes through Greenwich, England, home of the Royal Navy Observatory

Longitude