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A geographical mile is defined to be the length of one minute of arc along the equator (one equatorial minute of longitude) therefore a degree of longitude along the equator is exactly 60 geographical miles or 111.3 kilometers, as there are 60 minutes in a degree. The length of 1 minute of longitude along the equator is 1 geographical mile or 1 ...
Longitude measures the rotational angle between the zero meridian and the measured point. By convention for the Earth, Moon and Sun, it is expressed in degrees ranging from −180° to +180°. For other bodies a range of 0° to 360° is used. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify a zero meridian, which for Earth is usually the Prime ...
Angles are typically measured in degrees (°) or in radians (rad), where 360° = 2 π rad. The use of degrees is most common in geography, astronomy, and engineering, where radians are commonly used in mathematics and theoretical physics.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 2 February 2025. System to specify locations on Earth For broader coverage of this topic, see Spatial reference system. Longitude lines are perpendicular to and latitude lines are parallel to the Equator. Geodesy Fundamentals Geodesy Geodynamics Geomatics History Concepts Geographical distance Geoid ...
Since the angular distance (or separation) is conceptually identical to an angle, it is measured in the same units, such as degrees or radians, using instruments such as goniometers or optical instruments specially designed to point in well-defined directions and record the corresponding angles (such as telescopes).
A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually denoted by ° (the degree symbol), is a measurement of a plane angle in which one full rotation is 360 degrees. [4] It is not an SI unit—the SI unit of angular measure is the radian—but it is mentioned in the SI brochure as an accepted unit. [5]
The solid angle of a latitude-longitude rectangle on a globe is ( ) (), where φ N and φ S are north and south lines of latitude (measured from the equator in radians with angle increasing northward), and θ E and θ W are east and west lines of longitude (where the angle in radians increases eastward). [10]
The vertical lines from pole to pole are lines of constant longitude, or meridians. The circles parallel to the equator are lines of constant latitude, or parallels. The graticule shows the latitude and longitude of points on the surface. In this example meridians are spaced at 6° intervals and parallels at 4° intervals.