1
Greenwich meridian
W 100º W 80º W 60º W40º W20º W 0º 20º E 40º E 60º E 80º E 100º E 120º E 140º E 160º E 180º
160º W 140º W
80º N
1. The planet Earth and its representation
17
HOW TO LOCATE A POINT ON EARTH
Any point we want to find on the Earth’s
surface can be located where a
parallel
(latitude) and a
meridian
(longitude)
intersect
5
.
Latitude ranges
6
between 0° and 90
o
north and between 0° and 90
o
south.
Because it is an angular distance it is
measured in
degrees
,
minutes
and
seconds
. The maximum degree of
latitude, 90
o
corresponds to the poles.
Longitude ranges between 0° and 180º
east and between 0° and 180º longitude
west. Like latitude, it is measured in
degrees, minutes and seconds.
If we measure the latitude and longitude
of a place we can find its exact location.
Let’s look at these examples:
Latitude
is the
angular distance
between any point on Earth and
the
Equator
.
Longitude
is the
angular distance
between any point on the Earth and
prime meridian
or
Greenwich
meridian
.
Buenos Aires
A city in the Southern Hemisphere
and west of the Greenwich meridian. Its coordinates are
latitude 34° 36
’
47
’’
south and longitude 58° 22
’
38
’’
west.
Berlin
A city in the Northern Hemisphere and east of the
Greenwich meridian. Its coordinates latitude 52º 31’ 02’’ north and
longitude 13° 24’ 37’’ east.
Understand
12.
Explain the relation between parallels and latitude
and between meridians and longitude.
Analyse
13.
Look at the map and answer the questions.
❚❚
Are all the meridians and parallels on our planet the
same? Name the biggest and a smaller one.
❚❚
In which hemisphere is there more land covered by water?
❚❚
What latitude is the Iberian Peninsula? What is its
longitude?
14.
Look at a physical map of Spain. What latitude is the
northernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula? And
the southernmost point?
15.
Look at a political world map. Indicate the
hemispherewhere the following cities are located:
Moscow, Canberra, Barcelona and Pretoria.
16.
Print out a political world map and mark the
following coordinates.
❚❚
Latitude 37º 22´ 36” N and longitude 05º 59´ 13” W
❚❚
Latitude 35º 36´ 54” N and longitude 139º 34´ 53” E
❚❚
Latitude 19º 25´ 42” N and longitude 99º 07´ 40” W
❚❚
Latitude 31º 56´ 51” S and longitude 115º 12´ 26” E
17.
On an atlas, find cities located at the above
coordinates. Then label the world map with the
cities and their coordinates.
