Coordinates 101

Latitude and Longitude, Explained Simply

Latitude and longitude are the two numbers that pin any spot on Earth, and once you see how they work you can read the coordinates of any place in about a minute.

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Latitude: north and south

Picture lines drawn around the Earth like horizontal rings. The middle ring is the equator, set at 0 degrees. Everything above it is north, up to 90 degrees at the North Pole. Everything below is south, down to 90 degrees at the South Pole.

So a latitude of 45 degrees north means you are halfway between the equator and the North Pole. Simple as that.

Longitude: east and west

Now picture lines running top to bottom, from pole to pole. The starting line, called the Prime Meridian, runs through Greenwich in London at 0 degrees. From there you count east up to 180 degrees, and west up to 180 degrees, until the two meet on the far side of the world.

How to read a set of coordinates

Coordinates almost always list latitude first, then longitude. Here are three famous spots:

The N, S, E, and W simply tell you which direction from the centre lines. A minus sign does the same job, so 33.8568° S can also be written as -33.8568.

Why the decimals matter

Each extra decimal place makes the point sharper. One decimal narrows you to a city. Five decimals lands you on a single doorstep. That is why coordinate gifts feel so personal, they point at one exact place and nowhere else.

Find your own coordinates

Want the numbers for your home, your favourite bar, or the beach from last summer? Type it into our coordinates finder and copy the result.

Once you have them, those two little numbers make a striking piece of map wall art.