Latitude, Longitude and Time Zones
Use the global grid: latitude and longitude, the Equator, the hemispheres, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Prime Meridian; and time zones, including why day and night differ around the world
What a learner can do afterwards
- Locate the Equator, Prime Meridian, tropics and polar circles on a globe or world map
- Find a place from its latitude and longitude, and give the rough coordinates of a place (e.g., 'London is about 51 degrees north')
- Explain how Earth's rotation causes day and night and why it can be evening in Sydney while it is morning in London, using local time zones
1 · Read
A grid on a park map helps you find a place. Latitude and longitude give positions across the globe. Each position uses two angles measured in degrees: latitude first, then longitude.
Latitude measures north or south of the Equator, the circle at 0°. The poles are at 90°N and 90°S. The Tropic of Cancer is near 23.5°N; Capricorn is near 23.5°S. The Arctic Circle is near 66.5°N; the Antarctic Circle is near 66.5°S. These are all lines of latitude.
This scale runs from the South Pole through the Equator to the North Pole.
Longitude measures east (E) or west (W) of the Prime Meridian, at 0° through Greenwich, England. Lines of longitude run between the poles. North (N) and south (S) of the Equator are the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. East and west longitudes mark the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Their boundaries are the Prime Meridian and the 180° meridian on the other side of Earth. For example, 25°N, 0° means 25 degrees north, on the Prime Meridian.
Read latitude first: 20°S means south of the Equator. Then read longitude: 60°E means east of the Prime Meridian. Together they locate a point on a map with a latitude and longitude grid.
Earth rotates, so places reach sunrise at different moments. Time zones set local clocks; they do not cause day and night. If Sydney is 10 hours ahead, 8 am in London is 6 pm in Sydney. In a simple model, Earth turns 360° in 24 hours: divide to find the angle for one hour. Real time zones have uneven boundaries, and some offsets include half or quarter hours.
Latitude measures north or south, longitude east or west. Earth rotates; time zones set local clocks.
The rewritten reading was written for this dataset.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.