You are probably familiar with latitude and longitude if you have looked carefully at a map or a globe and seen the grid lines. Be sure you know where to find the Equator and the Prime Meridian.

• Latitude tells you how far north or south of the Equator you are located. The Equator itself is at 0 latitude. The Equator divides the Earth into the northern and southern hemisphere.
• Longitude tells you how far east or west of the Prime Meridian you are located. The Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich, England and is at 0 longitude. The Prime Meridian divides the Earth into the eastern and western hemisphere.

So, how do you tell where you are located? Latitude and Longitude pinpoint your location exactly. Latitude and longitude are measured in degrees (these are not the same degrees you see on a thermometer) and minutes (these are not these minutes you see on a clock). You know that there are 360 degrees in a circle, right? Well, the Equator and Prime Meridians are circles that stretch all the way around the Earth. You may also know that you can divide a degree into 60 minutes. So, if you know how to determine latitude and longitude, you will know the exact location of any position on Earth. You will find a good review of these concepts at the Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map and the GeoSystems web site. Just skim these two sites for the basic concepts, don't worry about the details.

Besides knowing where you are, what are some other uses for latitude and longitude? Actually, a lot of information such as census data and environmetnal data as well as economic and cultural information can be found once you know latitude and longitude.

Back in the "old days"...before the World Wide Web...you had to use a map to find latitude and longitude. Now, there are dozens of web sites that will calculate latitude and longitude for you. You are going to visit some of them in this lesson; however, before you begin the homework for this lesson, visit the Hot Spot. There you will find the web site of one of the best known "geographic" organizations in the world.

Please Note: Web sites sometimes change their addresses. Please let me know if youi have problems accessing either of the sites listed below.

Tiger Map Server Browser is a handy tool. When you visit this site, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find a place to enter the name of a U.S. city or town as illustrated here. Enter Thomasville and GA, then click on the Search button. (Remember: What you see here is only an example, you have to go to the real page to enter the information.) Record the latitude and longitude you get for the next exercise. When the map of our area appears, mark some of the selections such as highways, streets, bodies of water, etc. Submit your request for a new map. Mail the document you receive to me (File | Mail Document).

Now that you know the latitude and longitude of Thomasville you can use its location to find out other information. For example, have you noticed the changing day length lately? Let's use the latitude and longitude of Thomasville to find out find sunrise and sunset information for our city at the Sun and Moon Data for One Day site. When you get to this site, use Form B to enter the latitude and longitude for Thomasville, GA (which you found in the previous exercise). Select the current month and day. Be sure to indicate that your latitude is North and your longitude is West. IMPORTANT...Enter your Time Zone as 6 hour West of Greenwich. Submit your request by clicking on the Get Data button. Mail the document to me.