Which is longitude & which is latitude? Thanks but I keep getting the coords messed up. This really matters on SOME caches...

Longitude is up and down (degrees North or South), latitude is side to side (degrees East or West). That what you were looking for?

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Ra! Ra! Ra!

[I doubled with Da Rebel in my answer, but they are the same in different words]. It is hard to answer this without confusing the listener. Latitude tells how far north or south of the equator you are. Longitude tells how far east or west of Greenwich, England you are (for the most common longitude datums). I think that is the answer you want. I don't know a good memory peg for it.

Aw, lets confuse 'em some more!

Longitude lines alway connect the north and south poles. Latitude lines are always parallel to the equator.

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Ra! Ra! Ra!

Let's confirm...

in geocaching, North is longitude & West is latitude.

Is this true?



[This message was edited by yjjohnston on February 02, 2004 at 07:15 PM.]

[This message was edited by yjjohnston on February 02, 2004 at 07:15 PM.]

The way I learned to keep them straight back in grade school is that the LATitude lines are the FAT lines running horizontally, whereas the LONGitude lines are the long ones running vertically. When you think of this in comparison to people and body styles it's easier to keep straight.

Either that or take a queue from Jimmy Buffett. Heading south improves your latitude.

quote:

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Let's confirm...

in geocaching, North is longitude & West is latitude.

Is this true?

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In our neighborhood? Yes.

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Ra! Ra! Ra!

Ok, I am too lazy to write answers when I point to someone else's

http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Slatlong.htm

http://www.hammondmap.com/sites/hammond/geography/latlong1.html

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Some of those that wander are lost!

quote:

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quote:
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Let's confirm...

in geocaching, North is longitude & West is latitude.

Is this true?

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In our neighborhood? Yes.

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Eh? This seems like the opposite!

While it's entirely possible that I have misunderstood something, the http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Slatlong.htm link Allen posted reads, in part:

To specify the latitude of some point P on the surface, draw the radius OP to that point. Then the elevation angle of that point above the equator is its latitude λ--northern latitude if north of the equator, southern (or negative) latitude if south of it.


Which, to me, sounds like:
North (or South) = latitude
West (or East) = longitude

I would speak an example as, "34 degrees North latitude, 84 degrees West longitude", right?

Am I misreading/misunderstanding/misundersitting this???

-AndymanD

Yes, Latitude is north or south (of Equator) and Longitude is east or west (of prime meridian)

http://www.met.fsu.edu/explores/latlon.html

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Some of those that wander are lost!

This issue can be confusing, and that is because: although Latitude measures location North and South, Latitude LINES run East and West. Argggggh! The best way I found to remember how it worked was just to remember the fairly common phrase "Northern Latitudes".

FWIW,
CharlieP

Yea, just like the yardage lines on a football field. They go across the field but measure the distance down the field.

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Some of those that wander are lost!

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Originally posted by AllenLacy:
Yea, just like the yardage lines on a football field. theygo across the field but measure the distance down the field.

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They--- Who are they long or lat

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Originally posted by johnnie:

They--- Who are they long or lat

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In this case "they" are yardage lines. SA

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Some of those that wander are lost!

Seemed like such a simple, innocuous question, too.

yjjohnston, now that you've recovered from the P.I.T.A. Puzzle #7 and want to learn more about latitude and longitude, why don't you give my Latitude and Longitude cache a try. I promise you'll never confuse the two again.

~erik~

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Originally posted by DaRebel:
Longitude is up and down (degrees North or South), latitude is side to side (degrees East or West). That what you were looking for?

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[EDITED ... I see it's already been pointed out that this is wrong, at least on our planet! ]

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I was thinking of longitude and latitude lines. I used to know which way is up, but now I'm not too sure.
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Ra! Ra! Ra!

[This message was edited by DaRebel on February 04, 2004 at 03:23 PM.]

[This message was edited by DaRebel on February 04, 2004 at 03:25 PM.]

~Erik~... I've been asked to abstain from geocaching since I'm in graduate school & SUPPOSED to be studying. ARGH! What things get in the way of geocaching. Unimportant things like work & school.

I will be working every Saturday between now & tax day (April 15th).

I suppose this would be a bad time to point out that the distance between lines of longitude gets less and less as latitude increases (or decreases) toward the poles.

A geocacher's nighmare: able to find hundreds of hidden boxes all over the world, yet can only find one sock when unloading the clothes dryer.