Determination of coordinates independently.
Determining latitude and longitude on a map or on a globe is one of the most accurate ways to determine the location of a large object. Determination of geographical coordinates, both historically and at the moment, is relevant in navigation, for orientation in the area, when moving on foot or in transport.
Each object, which is distinguished by a stable location, can have not only its own postal address, but also a geographical address, reflected precisely in latitude and longitude. When asked how to determine the latitude and longitude on the map, the video and text instructions are quite detailed, it is not difficult to answer this question, and in order to use knowledge in practice, you just need to pay due attention to the instructions that people have been using for hundreds of years.
horizontal lines
Latitude is expressed in degrees indicated on the map, and represents the distance to a particular point, relative to the Equator, it can be either positive or negative, respectively - North and South. Southern latitudes - from the Equator to the South Pole (negative), Northern - from the Equator to the North Pole (positive).
The Equator is taken as the latitude of the zero value, its value increases from the Equator to the poles and can have a value from 0 ° to 90 °, both in one direction and in the other.
North latitude is indicated by the English letter N (from North), South - S (from South).
vertical lines
Longitude is expressed in degrees and shows the distance from any point to the position of Greenwich (zero meridian), it can have a positive and negative value, and is also divided into hemispheres. To the west of Greenwich - positive, Western. To the east - negative or Eastern.
The entire circumference of the Earth is defined as 360°, with 180° making up the Western and Eastern hemispheres. Longitude is higher the farther it is from Greenwich (zero meridian) and can range from 0 to 180°.
The designation of the western longitude comes from the English word West, by the first letter - W. And the eastern one is indicated by the word East and the letter E. 
Determination of coordinates - simply and quickly
The step between degrees is 111.11 kilometers, minutes and seconds are fractional degrees, allowing you to determine the position of the object with an accuracy of several meters (5-20 approximately).
- To find out the latitude of a point, it is necessary to establish whether it belongs to the northern or southern hemisphere (above or below the Equator). Parallels in tens of degrees are signed on the right or left side of the map (or both). It is necessary to establish between which parallels the desired position is located. Next, you need to use measuring instruments or marks on the map to set the distance from the selected point to the nearest parallel from the Equator in degrees;
- To determine the longitude of a point, you must first find out its position on the map relative to Greenwich - the western hemisphere is located to the right of the zero meridian, and the eastern hemisphere is located to the left. Longitude can be labeled on the top and bottom of the map, as well as at the point of intersection with the Equator. It is necessary to set the distance of the desired position to the nearest meridian from Greenwich;
- The intersection point between meridians and parallels is the geographic coordinates of the selected point.
It is worth considering that you can set the exact location of the point if you have a sufficiently detailed map, where it is possible to use not only degrees, but also minutes and seconds. A degree is 111 kilometers, and its minute is already 1.85 kilometers, a second allows you to specify the position of a point up to 30 meters.
How to determine the latitude and longitude on the Yandex map and Google map
In order to find out the characteristics of the area in the Google mapping system, you need to move the mouse over the area of interest, while you can adjust the scale using the mouse wheel and move the map by pressing the left mouse button and moving the device in the desired direction. After clicking on the desired position with the right mouse button, you need to select the “what is here” item in the drop-down menu, the system will immediately enter the result in the search line above and display information about the objects located in the specified area and other characteristics of the area.
Geographic longitude and latitude are used to accurately determine the physical location of any object on the globe. The easiest way to find geographic coordinates is to use a geographic map. This method requires some theoretical knowledge for its implementation. How to determine the longitude and latitude is described in the article.
Geographical coordinates
Coordinates in geography are a system in which each point on the surface of our planet is assigned a set of numbers and symbols that allows you to accurately determine the position of this point. Geographical coordinates are expressed in three numbers - this is latitude, longitude and height above sea level. The first two coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude, are most often used in various geographical tasks. The origin of the report in the geographic coordinate system is at the center of the Earth. Spherical coordinates are used to represent latitude and longitude, which are expressed in degrees.
Before considering the question of how to determine longitude and latitude by geography, you should understand these concepts in more detail.
The concept of latitude
The latitude of a particular point on the surface of the Earth is understood as the angle between the equatorial plane and the line connecting this point with the center of the Earth. Through all points on having the same latitude, you can draw a plane that will be parallel to the plane of the equator.
The plane of the equator is the zero parallel, that is, its latitude is 0 °, and it divides the entire globe into the southern and northern hemispheres. Accordingly, the north pole lies on parallel 90° north latitude and the south pole lies on parallel 90° south latitude. The distance that corresponds to 1° when moving along a particular parallel depends on which parallel it is. With increasing latitude when moving north or south, this distance decreases. Thus is 0°. Knowing that the circumference of the Earth at the latitude of the equator has a length of 40075.017 km, we obtain a length of 1 ° along this parallel equal to 111.319 km.
Latitude indicates how far north or south of the equator a given point lies on the Earth's surface.
The concept of longitude
The longitude of a particular point on the surface of the Earth is understood as the angle between the plane passing through this point and the axis of rotation of the Earth, and the plane of the prime meridian. According to the settlement agreement, the meridian is supposed to be zero, which passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, located in the southeast in England. The Greenwich meridian divides the globe into east and
Thus, each line of longitude passes through the north and south poles. The lengths of all meridians are equal and amount to 40007.161 km. If we compare this figure with the length of the zero parallel, then we can say that the geometric shape of the planet Earth is a ball flattened from the poles.
Longitude shows how far west or east of the zero (Greenwich) meridian lies a specific point on Earth. If latitude has a maximum value of 90° (latitude of the poles), then the maximum value of longitude is 180° west or east of the prime meridian. The 180° meridian is known as the international date line.
One can ask an interesting question, the longitude of which points cannot be determined. Based on the definition of the meridian, we get that all 360 meridians pass through two points on the surface of our planet, these points are the south and north poles.
Geographic degree
From the above figures it can be seen that 1 ° on the Earth's surface corresponds to a distance of more than 100 km, both along the parallel and along the meridian. For more accurate coordinates of the object, the degree is divided into tenths and hundredths, for example, they talk about 35.79 north latitude. In this form, information is provided by satellite navigation systems such as GPS.
Ordinary geographical and topographic maps represent fractions of a degree in the form of minutes and seconds. So, each degree is divided into 60 minutes (denoted by 60"), and each minute is divided into 60 seconds (denoted by 60""). Here you can draw an analogy with the representation of the measurement of time.
Getting to know the map
To understand how to determine the geographical latitude and longitude on the map, you must first familiarize yourself with it. In particular, you need to figure out how the coordinates of longitude and latitude are represented on it. First, the top of the map shows the northern hemisphere, the bottom shows the southern. The numbers on the left and right of the edge of the map indicate latitude, and the numbers at the top and bottom of the map are longitude coordinates.
Before you determine the coordinates of latitude and longitude, you must remember that they are presented on the map in degrees, minutes and seconds. Do not confuse this system of units with decimal degrees. For example, 15" = 0.25°, 30" = 0.5°, 45"" = 0.75".
Using a geographic map to determine longitude and latitude
Let us explain in detail how to determine longitude and latitude by geography using a map. To do this, you first need to purchase a standard geographic map. This map can be a map of a small area, region, country, continent, or the whole world. To understand which card to deal with, you should read its name. At the bottom, under the name, the limits of latitudes and longitudes, which are presented on the map, can be given.
After that, you need to select some point on the map, some object that needs to be marked in some way, for example, with a pencil. How to determine the longitude of an object located at a selected point, and how to determine its latitude? The first step is to find the vertical and horizontal lines that lie closest to the selected point. These lines are the latitude and longitude, the numerical values of which can be viewed at the edges of the map. Assume that the chosen point lies between 10° and 11° north latitude and 67° and 68° west longitude.
Thus, we know how to determine the geographic latitude and longitude of the object selected on the map with the accuracy that the map provides. In this case, the accuracy is 0.5°, both in latitude and longitude.
Determination of the exact value of geographical coordinates
How to determine the longitude and latitude of a point more precisely than 0.5 °? First you need to find out what scale the map with which you are working is. Usually, a scale bar is indicated in one of the corners of the map, showing the correspondence of distances on the map to distances in geographical coordinates and in kilometers on the ground.
After the scale bar is found, it is necessary to take a simple ruler with millimeter divisions and measure the distance on the scale bar. Let in this example, 50 mm corresponds to 1 ° latitude and 40 mm - 1 ° longitude.
Now we position the ruler so that it is parallel to the longitude lines drawn on the map, and measure the distance from the point in question to one of the nearest parallels, for example, the distance to the 11 ° parallel is 35 mm. We make up a simple proportion and find that this distance corresponds to 0.3 ° from the 10 ° parallel. Thus, the latitude of the point under consideration is +10.3° (the plus sign means north latitude).
Similar actions should be done for longitude. To do this, place the ruler parallel to the lines of latitude and measure the distance to the nearest meridian from the selected point on the map, for example, this distance is 10 mm to the meridian of 67 ° west longitude. According to the rules of proportion, we obtain that the longitude of the object in question is -67.25 ° (the minus sign means longitude west).
Convert received degrees to minutes and seconds
As stated above, 1° = 60" = 3600"". Using this information and the rule of proportion, we find that 10.3° corresponds to 10°18"0"". For the longitude value, we get: 67.25 ° = 67 ° 15 "0"". In this case, the proportion was used for the conversion once for longitude and latitude. However, in the general case, when fractional minutes are obtained after using the proportion once, it follows use the proportion a second time to get the value of incremental seconds. Note that the accuracy of determining the coordinates to 1 "corresponds to an accuracy on the surface of the globe equal to 30 meters.
Recording received coordinates
After the question of how to determine the longitude of an object and its latitude has been resolved, and the coordinates of the selected point have been determined, they should be written down correctly. The standard notation is to indicate the longitude after the latitude. Both values must be specified with as many decimal places as possible, since the accuracy of the object location depends on this.
Certain coordinates can be represented in two different formats:
- Using only the degree icon, e.g. +10.3°, -67.25°.
- Using minutes and seconds, for example, 10°18"0"" North, 67°15"0"" West.
It should be noted that when representing geographic coordinates in degrees only, the words "North (South) latitude" and "East (West) longitude" are replaced by the appropriate plus or minus sign.
Similar coordinates apply on other planets, as well as on the celestial sphere.
Latitude
Latitude- angle φ between the local direction of the zenith and the plane of the equator, counted from 0° to 90° on both sides of the equator. The geographical latitude of points lying in the northern hemisphere (northern latitude) is considered to be positive, the latitude of points in the southern hemisphere is negative. It is customary to speak of latitudes close to the poles as high, and about those close to the equator - as about low.
Due to the difference in the shape of the Earth from the ball, the geographic latitude of the points is somewhat different from their geocentric latitude, that is, from the angle between the direction to a given point from the center of the Earth and the plane of the equator.
The latitude of a place can be determined using astronomical instruments such as a sextant or gnomon (direct measurement), you can also use GPS or GLONASS systems (indirect measurement).
Related videos
Longitude
Longitude- dihedral angle λ between the plane of the meridian passing through the given point, and the plane of the initial zero meridian, from which the longitude is counted. Longitude from 0° to 180° east of the prime meridian is called east, to the west - west. Eastern longitudes are considered to be positive, western - negative.
Height
To fully determine the position of a point in three-dimensional space, a third coordinate is needed - height. The distance to the center of the planet is not used in geography: it is convenient only when describing very deep regions of the planet or, on the contrary, when calculating orbits in space.
Within the geographic envelope, it is usually used height above sea level, counted from the level of the "smoothed" surface - the geoid. Such a system of three coordinates turns out to be orthogonal, which simplifies a number of calculations. Altitude above sea level is also convenient in that it is related to atmospheric pressure.
Distance from the earth's surface (up or down) is often used to describe a location, but "not" serves as a coordinate.
Geographic coordinate system
ω E = − V N / R (\displaystyle \omega _(E)=-V_(N)/R) ω N = V E / R + U cos (φ) (\displaystyle \omega _(N)=V_(E)/R+U\cos(\varphi)) ω U p = V E R t g (φ) + U sin (φ) (\displaystyle \omega _(Up)=(\frac (V_(E))(R))tg(\varphi)+U\sin(\ varphi)) where R is the radius of the earth, U is the angular velocity of the earth's rotation, V N (\displaystyle V_(N)) is the speed of the vehicle to the north, V E (\displaystyle V_(E))- to the East, φ (\displaystyle \varphi )- latitude, λ (\displaystyle \lambda )- longitude.
The main shortcoming in the practical application of the G.S.K. in navigation is the large values of the angular velocity of this system at high latitudes, which increase up to infinity at the pole. Therefore, instead of G. S. K., a semi-free SK in azimuth is used.
Semi-free in azimuth coordinate system
The semi-free in azimuth S.K. differs from the G.S.K. only by one equation, which has the form:
ω U p = U sin (φ) (\displaystyle \omega _(Up)=U\sin(\varphi))Accordingly, the system has the same initial position, carried out according to the formula
N = Y w cos (ε) + X w sin (ε) (\displaystyle N=Y_(w)\cos(\varepsilon)+X_(w)\sin(\varepsilon)) E = − Y w sin (ε) + X w cos (ε) (\displaystyle E=-Y_(w)\sin(\varepsilon)+X_(w)\cos(\varepsilon))In reality, all calculations are carried out in this system, and then, to issue output information, the coordinates are transformed into the GCS.
Recording formats for geographic coordinates
Any ellipsoid (or geoid) can be used to record geographic coordinates, but WGS 84 and Krasovsky (on the territory of the Russian Federation) are most often used.
Coordinates (latitude −90° to +90°, longitude −180° to +180°) can be written:
- in ° degrees as a decimal fraction (modern version)
- in ° degrees and ′ minutes with a decimal
- in ° degrees, ′ minutes and
Video lesson “Geographical latitude and geographical longitude. Geographical coordinates will help you get an idea of the geographic latitude and geographic longitude. The teacher will tell you how to correctly determine the geographical coordinates.
Geographic latitude- the length of the arc in degrees from the equator to the given point.
To determine the latitude of an object, you need to find the parallel on which this object is located.
For example, the latitude of Moscow is 55 degrees and 45 minutes north latitude, it is written as follows: Moscow 55 ° 45 "N; New York latitude - 40 ° 43" N; Sydney - 33°52"S
Geographic longitude is determined by meridians. Longitude can be western (from 0 meridian west to 180 meridian) and eastern (from 0 meridian east to 180 meridian). Longitudes are measured in degrees and minutes. Geographic longitude can have values from 0 to 180 degrees.
Geographic longitude- length of the arc of the equator in degrees from the initial meridian (0 degrees) to the meridian of the given point.
The prime meridian is the Greenwich meridian (0 degrees).
Rice. 2. Definition of longitudes ()
To determine longitude, you need to find the meridian on which the given object is located.
For example, the longitude of Moscow is 37 degrees and 37 minutes of east longitude, it is written as follows: 37 ° 37 "E; the longitude of Mexico City is 99 ° 08" W.
Rice. 3. Geographic latitude and geographic longitude
To accurately determine the location of an object on the surface of the Earth, you need to know its geographic latitude and geographic longitude.
Geographical coordinates- quantities that determine the position of a point on the earth's surface using latitudes and longitudes.
For example, Moscow has the following geographic coordinates: 55°45" N and 37°37" E. The city of Beijing has the following coordinates: 39°56′ N 116°24′ E The latitude value is written first.
Sometimes you need to find an object by already given coordinates, for this you must first assume in which hemispheres this object is located.
Homework
Paragraphs 12, 13.
1. What is geographic latitude and longitude?
Bibliography
Main
1. Initial course of geography: Proc. for 6 cells. general education institutions / T.P. Gerasimova, N.P. Neklyukov. - 10th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2010. - 176 p.
2. Geography. Grade 6: atlas. - 3rd ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, DIK, 2011. - 32 p.
3. Geography. Grade 6: atlas. - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, DIK, 2013. - 32 p.
4. Geography. 6 cells: cont. cards. - M.: DIK, Bustard, 2012. - 16 p.
Encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books and statistical collections
1. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia / A.P. Gorkin. - M.: Rosmen-Press, 2006. - 624 p.
Literature for preparing for the GIA and the Unified State Examination
1. Geography: an initial course. Tests. Proc. allowance for students 6 cells. - M.: Humanit. ed. center VLADOS, 2011. - 144 p.
2. Tests. Geography. Grades 6-10: Teaching aid / A.A. Letyagin. - M .: LLC "Agency" KRPA "Olimp": "Astrel", "AST", 2001. - 284 p.
Materials on the Internet
1. Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements ().
2. Russian Geographical Society ().
