Video: Imaginary Lines

Latitude and Longitude

What if you wanted to take a trip somewhere, like Los Angeles, California? How would you know where to go?

You might say you can buy a plane ticket, depending on where you live, and fly there.

Or you may think to use a GPS to get directions to drive there.

But WHERE exactly is Los Angeles in the world?

To find the exact locations of places, we use latitude and longitude coordinates.

How do you think the pilot of the airplane knows where to go? They follow coordinates to fly to the exact locations.

Latitude lines run horizontally across the globe. Think of steps on a ladder. Longitude lines run vertically, or up and down.

The equator is the imaginary line of latitude that runs horizontally and divides the northern and southern hemispheres.

The prime meridian is the imaginary line of longitude that runs vertically down the middle of the globe, dividing the east and western hemispheres.

We measure latitude and longitude by degrees, or distance apart.

The latitude of the equator is 0˚. We can either go up (north) 90˚ or down (south) 90˚ to measure the distance of a place on Earth.

The longitude of the prime meridian is 0˚. We measure east up to 180˚ or west up to 180˚.

We find places by using latitude and longitude. Let’s find 40˚ N and 120˚W.

We find both plot points. Then follow along the lines until both points meet. The intersection where the latitude and longitude lines meet is the exact location of a place.

Find 20˚N and 90˚W.

Great job! You have just located Campeche, Mexico

Campeche, Mexico, lies at 20˚N and 90˚W.

Find 20˚S and 30˚E.

Nice work! You have just located the country of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe lies at 20˚S and 30˚E.

Here is a coordinate map of the United States.

If we wanted to find the exact location of Los Angeles, California, we could look for the latitude and longitude lines. Los Angeles has a latitude of 34.05˚ N and a longitude of 118.2˚W.

How can we use a map to find those coordinates and locate Los Angeles?

Let’s look a little closer. Follow along with the lines to see where the exact location of Los Angeles, California, is.

Remember that lines of latitude will go across to measure north or south, and lines of longitude will go up and down and measure east and west.

And you must know your directions in order to find locations on a map using coordinates.