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Finding A Location

What can be used to find the exact location of a place in the world?

Goal:

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The world is divided into many different regions and areas. Study the tabs below to review these locations.

Hemispheres

North and South Poles

Latitude and Longitude

Equator and Prime Meridian

Hemispheres

The world is divided into four hemispheres. A hemisphere is half of a sphere, so the world, which is a sphere, can be divided into halves in two different ways. The Earth has a northern and a southern hemisphere, and it also has an eastern and a western hemisphere.

Question

In which two hemispheres is the continent of Asia located?

Asia is in the northern hemisphere, and it is also in the eastern hemisphere.

The North and South Poles are located at the top and bottom of the world. The North Pole is in the northern hemisphere at the northernmost place in the Arctic. The South Pole is in the southern hemisphere located in Antarctica, which is Earth's southernmost continent.

globe labeled with north and south poles, equator, and northern/southern hemispheres.

To find the exact location of a place in the world, lines of latitude and longitude are used. These invisible lines measure distances in degrees.


Latitude lines are imaginary lines that measure the distance north or south of the equator.

3D model of the Earth showing Latitude lines.

Longitude lines are imaginary lines that measure the distance east or west of the imaginary line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole.

3D model of the Earth showing Longitude lines.

The Equator is the horizontal imaginary line drawn around the middle of the Earth that divides the northern and southern hemispheres. It is 0 degrees latitude at the Equator.

The Prime Meridian is the vertical imaginary line drawn around the Earth that divides the eastern and western hemispheres. It is 0 degrees longitude at the Prime Meridian.

Prime meridian