Geographic Coordinate System

maps · navigation · Earth · angles

Lines divide Earth. Imagine Earth covered in invisible grid lines. Latitude lines run east to west like belts around the planet, while longitude lines run north to south like orange slices. Together they create squares you can use to find any spot.

Angles, not distances. Instead of measuring distance like on a flat map, latitude and longitude measure angles from the center of Earth. This works because Earth is a sphere, not a flat piece of paper, so angles are more accurate than straight measurements.

Ancient and everywhere. People have been using latitude and longitude for hundreds of years, making it the oldest navigation system still in use today. It's so useful that GPS, maps on your phone, and every atlas in the world rely on it.

Starting points matter. Latitude starts at zero degrees at the equator and goes to 90 degrees north and south at the poles. Longitude starts at zero degrees in Greenwich, England, and goes 180 degrees east and west around the world.

Foundation for all maps. Every other way of describing locations on Earth is built on top of latitude and longitude. They're the starting point that makes all other navigation systems possible.