What are latitude and longitude and how can they be used to determine location?

Serving as a record of where people go and how much time they spend there, mobile location data offers unique insights on people’s activities and interests. These insights can be harnessed to bolster business performance across a host of industries.

Latitude and longitude are the vertical and horizontal axes that are used for grid coordinates. To determine your latitude, use a Geological Survey map and a map ruler to measure outwards from your location to the nearest numbered line of latitude. Mark the distance between your location and the parallel line underneath to get the latitude of your location. To find the longitude, place your ruler diagonally on the west and east meridians with the ends of the 2 ½ minute ruler touching both meridians. The meridians are constant circles of longitude going around the earth. Move your ruler vertically until you find your location. Then, take the distance from your location to the longitude of the eastern meridian and add it to the eastern meridian to get the longitude. For more tips, including how to use a protractor and compass to measure latitude and longitude, read on!

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When used together, longitude and latitude define a specific location through geographical coordinates. These coordinates are what the Global Position System or GPS uses to provide an accurate locational relay.

Longitude and latitude lines measure the distance from the Earth's Equator or central axis - running east to west - and the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England - running north to south.

What Is the Equator?

The Equator is an imaginary line that runs around the center of the Earth from east to west. It is perpindicular to the Prime Meridan, the 0 degree line running from north to south that passes through Greenwich, England.

There are equal distances from the Equator to the north pole, and also from the Equator to the south pole. The line uniformly divides the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet.

Because of how the sun is situated above the Equator - it is primarily overhead - locations close to the Equator generally have high temperatures year round. In addition, they experience close to 12 hours of sunlight a day. Then, during the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes the sun is exactly overhead which results in 12-hour days and 12-hour nights.

What is Latitude?

The lines of latitude run east and west, parallel to the Equator. They are used to define the North-South position of a location on the planet.

Major latitude lines include:

• Equator which is 0 degrees
• North Pole which is 90 degrees north
• South Pole which is 90 degrees south
• Arctic Circle is 66 degrees and 32' north
• Antarctic Circle is 66 degrees and 32' south
• Tropic of Cancer is 23 degrees and 30' north
• Tropic of Capricorn is 23 degrees and 30' south

What is Longitude?

The lines of longitude run north and south. They are used to define the East-West position of a location on the planet. They run perpendicular to the Equator and latitude lines.

Half of a longitudinal circle is called a Meridian, which is where the term comes from in the name Greenwich Meridian or Prime Meridian.

Contrary to latitude, there is no central longitude line. However, the Prime Meridian or Greenwich Meridian is used as the primary reference point because it is set to 0 degrees longitude. The Prime Meridian separates the east and west hemispheres of the Earth.

Because the Earth is essentially a spherical shape, it is considered to have 360 degrees. Therefore, the planet has been divided into 360 longitudes as a form of measurement.

Lines of latitude run parallel to each other in an east/west direction, and are measure in degrees starting at 0 degrees at the Equator and ending at 90 degrees at either North or South Poles.

Longitude lines run north/south, converging at the poles. The zero degree Longitude runs through Greenwich England and is called the Prime Meridian. The lines are then measured in degrees moving east and west from 0 until you reach 180 degrees or the international date line.

One degree can be divided into 60 minute and one minute into 60 seconds. The distance from one minute of latitude to the next is 1 nautical mile. As longitude converge at the poles the distance between minutes of longitude varies dependent on how far north/south you are.

Using these, every point on the Earth can be described using one latitude and one longitude. And since modern GPS can measure down to decimals of seconds, you can use a point of latitude and longitude and pinpoint yourself to within a meter of your EXACT spot on the Earth.