What are Latitude and Longitude?

Answer:
Latitude and longitude are imaginary lines created to allow us to specify an exact location on the globe.  Latitude lines
run parallel to the equator, the dividing line between North and South. Longitude lines run from the North Pole to the South Pole.
 

Unlike latitude lines which are evenly spaced, longitude lines are very close at the poles and spaced further apart near the equator. Any location on Earth can be identified by these two coordinates. Latitude is indicated by the degree (from 0 to 180) north or south of the equator. Longitude is indicated by the degree (0 to 180 again) east or west of the Prime Meridian.

Each line of longitude is called a meridian, but since there is no logical half way point in this direction as there is with the equator, in 1884 a group called the International Meridian Conference chose the Greenwich Meridian in the United Kingdom as the Prime Meridian.

Every degree of latitude and longitude are further divided into decimal fractions or 60 “minutes” (each consisting of 60 “seconds”.) Thus, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA, USA is described at being 37 degrees, 49 minutes North (the latitude), 122 degrees, 29 minutes West (the longitude).
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