Latitude & Longitude Explorer
Every place on Earth has an address made of two numbers. Tap the map to see its latitude and longitude, or type coordinates to see where they land.
Simplified map: land shapes are approximate, but city dots and coordinates are real.
Use negative numbers for South latitudes and West longitudes.
Latitude
Lines that run east–west, measuring how far north or south of the equator a place is, from 0° to 90°. Think: latitude lines lie flat like ladder rungs.
Longitude
Lines that run north–south from pole to pole, measuring how far east or west of the Prime Meridian a place is, from 0° to 180°.
The Equator (0°)
Divides Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
The Prime Meridian (0°)
Runs through Greenwich, London, and divides Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
Writing coordinates
Latitude comes first: Tokyo is about 35.7° N, 139.7° E. Each degree of latitude is about 111 km (69 miles).
Special lines
Tropic of Cancer (23.4° N), Tropic of Capricorn (23.4° S), Arctic Circle (66.6° N) and Antarctic Circle (66.6° S).