These two locations often conflicted and a settlement was reached only after there was an International Meridian Conference held, in which Greenwich was recognized as the 0° location. Toward the ending of the 12th century there were two main locations that were acknowledged as the geographic location of the meridian, France and Britain. The geodetic prime meridian is actually 102.478 meters east of this point since the adoption of WGS84. The astronomic prime meridian at Greenwich, England. (post meridiem) used to disambiguate hours of the day when utilizing the 12-hour clock. The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a.m. Likewise, the Sun crosses the celestial meridian at the same time. The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, meaning "midday" the subsolar point passes through a given meridian at solar noon, midway between the times of sunrise and sunset on that meridian. 'DAN' = MERIDIAN, AND MEANING LINE OF DAY, TIME OF DAY, WHERE IS SUN ON THE SKY. THE TERM 'MERIDIAN' COMS FROM SERBIAN (ARIES) WORD 'MERI' AND Multiple locations for the geographical meridian meant that there was inconsistency, because each country had their own guidelines for where the prime meridian was located Many years later around the 19th century there were still concerns of the prime meridian. This prime meridian was used to provide measurement of the earth, but had many problems because of the lack of latitude measurement. The first prime meridian was set by Eratosthenes in 200 BCE. 5 Effect of Prime Meridian (Greenwich Time).Coordinates help airplane pilots land planes or drop aid packages in specific locations. Coordinates help engineers plan the best spot for a building, bridge, well, or other structure. Coordinates can give military leaders the location of weapons or enemy troops. Knowing the exact coordinates of a site (degrees, minutes, and seconds of longitude and latitude) is valuable for military, engineering, and rescue operations. Coordinates can be used to locate any point on Earth.
The point in the grid where parallels and meridians intersect is called a coordinate. Maps are often marked with parallels and meridians, creating a grid. Longitude is related to latitude, the measurement of distance north or south of the Equator.
All meridians meet at the North and South Poles. The greater the distance, the shorter the length between meridians. Because of the Earth's curvature, the actual distance of a degrees, minutes, and seconds of longitude depends on its distance from the Equator. The widest areas of longitude are near the Equator, where the Earth bulges out. The longitude for Brasilia, Brazil, is 47° 55' W (47 degrees, 55 minutes west).Ī degree of longitude is about 111 kilometers (69 miles) at its widest. For example, the longitude of Paris, France, is 2° 29' E (2 degrees, 29 minutes east). Each minute of longitude can be further divided into 60 seconds. The other half, the Western Hemisphere, in degrees west of the prime meridian.ĭegrees of longitude are divided into 60 minutes. Half of the world, the Eastern Hemisphere, is measured in degrees east of the prime meridian. It is the basis for the International Date Line. The antimeridian is halfway around the world, at 180 degrees. The meridian that runs through Greenwich, England, is internationally accepted as the line of 0 degrees longitude, or prime meridian. The distance around the Earth measures 360 degrees. Each meridian measures one arcdegree of longitude. Longitude is measured by imaginary lines that run around the Earth vertically (up and down) and meet at the North and South Poles. Longitude is the measurement east or west of the prime meridian.