Geographic coordinate system


 * For the use of coordinates on Wikipedia pages see: WikiProject Geographical coordinates



A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the earth to be specified by the three coordinates of a aligned with the spin axis of the.

First and second dimensions: latitude and longitude


Borrowing from theories of the ancient s, later expanded by the famous thinker and geographer, a full circle is divided into 360  (Borrowing from theories of the ancient s' angle) (360°).
 * (abbreviation: Lat.) is the angle at the centre of the coordinate system between any point on the earth's surface and the plane of the . Lines joining points of the same latitude are called, and they trace concentric circles on the surface of the earth. Each is 90 degrees: the  90° N; the  90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, an imaginary line that divides the globe into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
 * (abbreviation: Long.) is the angle east or west, at the centre of the coordinate system, between any point on the earth's surface and the plane of an arbitrary north-south line between the two geographical poles. Lines joining points of the same longitude are called . All meridians are halves of great circles, and are not parallel: by definition they converge at the north and south poles. The line passing through the (former) (near London in the ) is the international zero-longitude reference line, the . The  meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E.

By combining these two angles, the horizontal position of any location on Earth can be specified.

For example, (in the ) has a latitude of 39.3° North, and a longitude of 76.6° West. So, a vector drawn from the center of the earth to a point 39.3° north of the equator and 76.6° west of Greenwich will pass through Baltimore.

This latitude/longitude "webbing" is known as the common graticule. There is also a complementary transverse graticule (meaning the graticule is shifted 90°, so that the poles are on the horizontal equator), upon which all is ultimately based.

Traditionally, degrees have been divided into (1/60th of a degree, designated by ′ or "m") and  (1/60th of a minute, designated by ″ or "s"). There are several formats for degrees, all of them appearing in the same Lat-Long order:
 * DMS Degree:Minute:Second (49°30'00"-123d30m00s)
 * DM Degree:Minute (49°30.0'-123d30.0m)
 * DD Decimal Degree (49.5000°-123.5000d), generally with 4 decimal numbers.

To convert from DM or DMS to DD, = whole number of degrees, plus minutes divided by 60, plus seconds divided by 3600. DMS is the most common format, and is standard on all charts and maps, as well as global positioning systems and geographic information systems.

On a spherical surface at, one latitudinal second measures 30.82 s and one latitudinal minute 1849 metres. are each 110.9 s away. The circles of longitude, the, meet at the s, with the west-east width of a second being dependent on the latitude. On a spherical surface at sea level, one longitudinal second measures 30.92 metres on the, 26.76 metres on the 30th parallel, 19.22 metres in (51° 28' 38" N) and 15.42 metres on the 60th parallel.

The width of one longitudinal degree on latitude $$\scriptstyle{\phi}\,\!$$ can be calculated by this formula (to get the width per minute and second, divide by 60 and 3600, respectively):


 * $$\frac{\pi}{180^{\circ}}\cos(\phi)M_r,\,\!$$

where $$\scriptstyle{M_r}\,\!$$ approximately equals 6,367,449 m.  Due to the average radius value used, this formula is of course not precise due to. You can get real width of a longitudinal degree on latitude $$\scriptstyle{\phi}\,\!$$ by:


 * $$\frac{\pi}{180^{\circ}}\cos(\phi)\sqrt{\frac{a^4\cos(\phi)^2+b^4\sin(\phi)^2}{(a\cos(\phi))^2+(b\sin(\phi))^2}},\,\!$$

where Earth's equatorial and polar radii, $$\scriptstyle{a,b}\,\!$$ equal 6,378,137 m, 6,356,752.3 m, respectively.

The equator is the of all geographic coordinate systems. All spherical coordinate systems define such a fundamental plane.

Latitude and longitude values can be based on several different s or s, the most common being the used by all GPS equipment. In other words, the same point on the earth’s surface can be described by different latitude and longitude values depending on the reference datum.

In popular GIS software, data projected in latitude/longitude is often specified via a 'Geographic Coordinate System'. For example, data in latitude/longitude with the as the  of 1983 is denoted by 'GCS_North_American_1983'.

Third dimension: altitude, height, depth
To completely specify a location on, in, or above the earth, one has to also specify the elevation, defined as the vertical position of the location relative to the centre of the reference system or some definition of the earth's surface. This is expressed in terms of the vertical distance to the earth below, but, because of the ambiguity of "surface" and "vertical", is more commonly expressed relative to a more precisely defined such as  (more precisely named, a surface of constant gravity potential). The distance to the earth's center can be used both for very deep positions and for positions in space.

Other terms used with respect to the distance of a point from the earth's surface or some other datum are, , and depth.

Geostationary coordinates
satellites (e.g., television satellites ) are over the equator. So, their position related to Earth is expressed in longitude degrees. Their latitude does not change, and is always zero over the equator.