Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss Gilyeat, and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be learning about latitude and longitude and how we can use it.

This is the third lesson of becoming a geography topic.

Let's get going.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can use latitude and longitude to locate places around the world.

We have three keywords for today's lesson, all of which are highlighted in bold if you need to refer to them back throughout the lesson.

So the first keyword is hemisphere.

A hemisphere is half of the Earth, usually divided into the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere by the Equator, or the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres by a line that runs through the poles.

Our second key word is the Prime Meridian.

So the Primary Meridian's the line of longitude at zero degrees, from which other lines of longitude are measured east and west.

And our third keyword is Equator.

So the Equator is an imaginary line encircling Earth at zero degrees latitude, and it is an equal distance from the North and the South Pole.

There are two key learning cycles for today.

Our first learning cycle is we are going to learn what are lines of latitude and longitude.

We are then going to learn how we can locate places using coordinates.

So we're gonna find out what they are and how we can use them.

Let's get going with our first learning cycle.

Now, when people started to explore the planet and develop global trade links, it became important for navigation to create a way of locating a ship's position on Earth.

So the people that were driving the ship needed to know which way to go and where they were, okay? Now, before the 18th century, sailors to use the stars to help them navigate across the seas.

So they'd be able to tell where in relation they were to some of the kind of star formations and hopefully figure out where they were.

However, we now use imaginary grid lines called latitude and longitude, which allow us to give coordinates for our position on Earth.

So they're not real lines that you can actually see on planet Earth, but you will find them on maps, okay? And these can help us locate where we are.

Now, the lines of latitude are lines which run horizontally across Earth, and lines of longitude run vertically across Earth.

Now, it's easy to get mixed up between these.

Now, the way that I remember it is latitude, flatitude, so you are flat, so running horizontally.

And longitude, I remember is long strands of hair.

So they run vertically from your head, okay? And lines of longitude on Earth run vertically as well.

That's how I remember it.

Now, global positioning systems, or GPS, are now used to give us exact locations using latitude and longitude coordinates, okay? So if you were to go on your phone, or your parents', or your family's phone, and you were to go onto Google Maps and have a look at an area, you should be able to find the coordinates for exact point.

So smartphones and satellite navigation systems, SatNav, use GPS to give our location, and that helps us give us directions.

Lines of latitude go horizontally across Earth, as I just said.

Now, the Equator is kind of the most important line of latitude, if you like, as it is zero degrees latitude, okay? Now, if you were to label somewhere north of that line, you would measure it as zero degrees north, okay? And if you were going to measure somewhere south of the Equator, you would measure it as whatever degrees south it is, okay? Now, if we have a look on the slide here we've got a world map, and we can see that some lines of latitude have been labelled.

So at zero degrees, that's where you've got the Equator, then running kind of through North America, part of Africa and Asia, you've got 30 degrees north.

So at that point, you are 30 degrees north of the Equator if you were stood anywhere on that line.

And again, further north through Canada, through the very north part of the UK, Europe, and Asia you will be at 60 degrees north, okay? So stood anywhere on that line, that's the coordinate that you would be at.

And then same counts for the south.

Now, there are five key lines of latitude which have names that you need to learn.

The first major one is the Equator.

So at this point you are zero degrees latitude.

The next two are the Tropics.

So in the Northern Hemisphere, so north of the Equator, you have got the Tropic of Cancer.

In the Southern Hemisphere, so south of the Equator, you have got the Tropic of Capricorn.

And then again, you've got the Arctic Circle very far north, and the Antarctic Circle very far south.

If you are classed or if you are in those encircles, it's very cold there, okay? Let's check our understanding.

Can you label or name each of the following lines of latitude? There's 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, so we've got Arctic Circle as number one, the Tropic of Cancer at number two, the Equator at number three, the Tropic of Capricorn at number four, and number five is the Antarctic Circle.

Did you get those all right? Now then, lines of longitude go vertically around the Earth and divide the world into the Eastern and the Western Hemisphere, okay? So let's just have a quick understanding or quick recap of the four points on a compass.

So you've got north, okay, east, south, and west, okay? So never eat shredded wheat.

Yeah, so lines of longitude tell us how far east along world you are and how far west, okay? Those are some lines of longitude labelled there.

Now, you might be thinking, "Well, for the latitude lines, you measure it at the equator, so how far north and south you are of the equator." Now for longitude, we measure it compared to this line.

So the Prime Meridian is at zero degrees longitude and goes through Greenwich in London.

Lines to the east of the Prime Meridian are labelled E for east and lines to the west are labelled W for west, okay? So we can see there the Prime Meridian has been labelled on the world map, which goes through the UK.

So that's the most important line of longitude that you need to be aware of, okay? So there we are at zero degrees of longitude.

Okay, now at that line there, which kind of just goes through just to the east of India, so through Myanmar, you've got 90 degrees east, okay? And then that line there is 90 degrees west.

Now, you can actually go stand on the Greenwich Meridian, which is located in the observatory in Greenwich in London.

So it's quite a cool thing to go visit if you live in London, or if you are, yeah, if you are going for a visit down there, it might be a cool thing to go do.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of the following statements are true? So first, a, lines of longitude run horizontally, lines of longitude run vertically, the Prime Meridian is at zero degrees longitude, and the Prime Meridian is at zero degrees latitude.

So which of those statements, and I'll tell you now there are two correct ones, two true ones there.

So first of all, lines of longitude run vertically, long, so like long hair.

And c, the Primary Meridian is at zero degrees longitude.

Okay, so we're gonna move to our first task for the lesson.

What I would like you to do is label the major lines of latitude and longitude on the world map, okay? So there is a worksheet to go with this lesson, so you can put them on there.

So the labels are the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, which is at 23.

5 degrees north, the Tropic of Capricorn, which is at 23.

5 degrees south, the Arctic Circle, which is at 66.

5 degrees north, the Antarctic Circle, which is at 66.

5 degrees south, the Prime Meridian.

And the final one, I'd like you to label 120 degrees east and 120 degrees west.

So pause the video and label your map.

Okay, let's check we've got the correct answers here.

So there's the Primary Meridian.

We've got the Arctic Circle up there, the Equator, 120 degrees east, the Antarctic Circle, 120 degrees west, the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

How did you do? Did you get those all right? Okay, we are now moving on to our second learning cycle, which is how we can locate places using these coordinates.

Now, lines of latitude go to 90 degrees north of the North Pole and 90 degrees south of the South Pole, okay? Now, lines of longitude go up to 180 degrees east and 180 degrees west.

So those are the kind of highest numbers, if you like, that you'll be writing down for the coordinates.

That's what they go up to, okay? So you can see the major lines of latitude that have been labelled there.

So 90 degrees north at the North Pole, 90 degrees south at the South Pole, and zero at the Equator.

180 degrees west in the Western Hemisphere and 180 degrees east in the Eastern Hemisphere is the furthest number that you will label for the lines of longitude.

Now, the grid created by lines of latitude and longitude allows us to give coordinates for locations around the Earth.

So we're going to learn how we write the numbers down in the correct order so we can pinpoint an exact point on a world map.

Now, for example, Beijing here, the coordinates are 40 degrees north, 116 degrees east.

Now, that means that Beijing is located 40 degrees north of the Equator and 116 degrees east of the Prime Meridian.

Brisbane in Australia is located at 27 degrees south and 152 degrees east, okay? So those are the exact coordinates of those two cities.

Now, to find the coordinates of a location, we first find its latitude and then we do its longitude.

So we go latitude first and then longitude.

The way I remember this is you go along the corridor and then upstairs.

So you always find the horizontal line first and then the vertical one.

Let's practise.

So on the slide, I have located an area in a green circle, okay? Now, this circle is located exactly on the 30 degrees north line of latitude.

So nice and easy.

So the first thing you would write down is 30 degrees north, okay? Now, that circle is also nicely located on exactly the line of 90 degrees east longitude, okay? So for that you would put 90 degrees east.

So we've found its latitude along the corridor, and we've found its longitude upstairs.

What we do now is we put those two numbers together.

So the full coordinates for that green circle are 30 degrees north and 90 degrees east, okay? Let's check if you can do these ones.

So what I would like you to do is pause the video, and you could either do this by yourself or with the person you are sat next to.

I would like you to write down the coordinates of those four red circles, okay? Off you go.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So that first one there is 30 degrees north, 90 degrees west.

That one, 30 degrees north, 90 degrees east.

A tricky one.

Zero degrees north and zero degrees east.

Okay, 'cause it's located on the Equator and at the Prime Meridian, okay? And there we have got 30 degrees south, 90 degrees west, okay? Did you get all those right? Okay, we are now moving on to our second task for this lesson.

You are going to need an atlas for this exercise.

What I would like you to do is use an atlas to try and find the following places that I have got on the slide there, okay? So you've got the Grand Canyon, you've got London, you've got the Iguazu Falls, Mount Koussi, the South Pole Station, Mount Merapi, and Great Barrier Reef.

Now, you may need to use find these places the index at the back of the atlas.

So if you search those places in alphabetical order, they should come up, and then it'll tell you what page number you can find those on, okay? So I'd like you to do that to try and find the exact location of them, okay? You can then write down the coordinates.

Now, to help you out a little bit, I have actually located them on here for you, okay? So one to seven tells you or shows you which continents those places are in.

So number one is in North America, number two is in Europe, three is in South America, four is in Africa, five is in Antarctica, six is in Asia, and seven is in Oceania.

So if you can't find the places using the index at the back, you could instead go to that section of the continent in the Atlas, okay? So pause the video, have a go.

If you're a little bit stuck, maybe you can use your partner to help you out a little bit.

But always remember that you go latitude first and then longitude, okay? So along the corridor, up the stairs.

Good luck.

Let's go through the answers.

Okay, so the first one, the Grand Canyon is at 35 degrees north, 115 degrees west.

Number two, London is at 52 degrees north, zero degrees.

The Iguazu Falls are at 26 degrees south, 54 degrees west.

Mount Koussi at 20 degrees north, 19 degrees east.

The South Pole Station is at 90 degrees south and zero degrees.

Mount Merapi is at 8 degrees south and 110 degrees east.

And finally, the Great Barrier Reef is located at 17 degrees south and 150 degrees east.

How did you do? If you got any wrong, it might be worth just looking at the atlas again and seeing how far off with you.

Maybe if you were just one or two degrees out, you still understand how to do the process, but weren't quite accurate enough, so don't worry too much.

But, yeah, if you did get any wrong, it might be worth checking in the atlas again.

Okay, so here we have a summary for today's lesson.

So first thing, lines of latitude run horizontally around the Earth.

Lines of longitude run vertically down the Earth.

We can use latitude and longitude to give coordinates for different locations on Earth.

And GPS uses coordinates in communication and transport systems to help society function.

Now that's it for today's lesson.

Well done because there some quite tricky things to get your head around there, so good effort.

Right, I've had a great time teaching you.

That's it for today's lesson.

Yeah, and I'll see you soon.

Make sure you keep practising your coordinates.

See you later.