To travel, you need to know at least approximately where you are going. Better yet, firmly understand where you will get to, and how best to get from point A to point B. There are maps for this. Unlike plans (cities or relatively small area
locations), they have a larger scale and determine the geographical coordinates of objects. This is done for convenience: with the help of these tricky numbers, we can determine whether a given point is located to the north or south of another, and also to the west or east we move to, for example, get from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
They say: “Language will bring you to Kyiv”, however, geographical coordinates will tell you the way there even better. What it is? These are conditional lines that are plotted on a map or globe. Naturally, you will not find them in a real area - except that such a sign can be found in some cities that are located directly on the parallel or meridian. Let's consider whatis latitude and longitude. Our planet has the shape of an ellipse, that is, not a perfect ball, but slightly compressed towards the poles. But for ease of reference, the coordinates are plotted as if the Earth is an absolute sphere.
It is known to spin around its own axis. Where this axis is in contact with the surface, there are poles - North and South. If we graphically connect them together, we get 360 conditional lines (after all, the sphere has an angle of 360 degrees). These bands on a map or globe are geographic coordinates indicating longitude. There are two important meridians on Earth. First
th - Zero. It passes through an observatory in the town of Greenwich, not far from London, which is why it is called by its name. The second is 180°, roughly coinciding with the International Date Line.
Geographic coordinates have one more parameter - latitude. If we draw a conditional line not along the rotation of our planet, but across, exactly in the middle, then this will be the equator. If the Greenwich meridian divides the sphere into the Western and Eastern Hemispheres, then zero latitude divides the sphere into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Since there is a right angle between the equator and the pole through the center of the Earth, there are 90 parallels in each hemisphere. The North Pole is 90° North and the South Pole is 90° South. All geographic degrees are subdivided into minutes and seconds.
Thus, any point on the surface of the Earth has its own latitude and longitude. It was very important for navigators to determine the geographical coordinates, who, being in the middle of the ocean, were deprivedany guidelines. They had to figure out where they were and where they were going
fuck around. They determined the latitude using an astrolabe - a special device that indicated the angle of the Sun above the horizon at noon.
But in order to calculate the geographical coordinates of cities, towns and other points, a modern person does not need to use such complex devices at all. It is enough to look at the atlas to determine the longitude and latitude of a geographical object. Parallels are indicated on the right and left, and meridians are indicated at the top and bottom of the cartographic image of the area. And with the help of Google, you can find out the coordinates of the smallest points that are not marked on the map with an accuracy of up to a second.
