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Latitude
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Ingeography,latitude()isageographiccoordinatethatspecifiesthenorthsouthpositionofapointontheEarth's
surface.Latitudeisanangle(definedbelow)whichrangesfrom0attheEquatorto90(NorthorSouth)atthe
poles.Linesofconstantlatitude,orparallels,runeastwestascirclesparalleltotheequator.Latitudeisused
togetherwithlongitudetospecifythepreciselocationoffeaturesonthesurfaceoftheEarth.Twolevelsof
abstractionareemployedinthedefinitionofthesecoordinates.Inthefirststepthephysicalsurfaceismodelledby
thegeoid,asurfacewhichapproximatesthemeansealevelovertheoceansanditscontinuationundertheland
masses.Thesecondstepistoapproximatethegeoidbyamathematicallysimplerreferencesurface.Thesimplest
choiceforthereferencesurfaceisasphere,butthegeoidismoreaccuratelymodelledbyanellipsoid.The
definitionsoflatitudeandlongitudeonsuchreferencesurfacesaredetailedinthefollowingsections.Linesof
constantlatitudeandlongitudetogetherconstituteagraticuleonthereferencesurface.Thelatitudeofapointonthe
actualsurfaceisthatofthecorrespondingpointonthereferencesurface,thecorrespondencebeingalongthe
normaltothereferencesurfacewhichpassesthroughthepointonthephysicalsurface.Latitudeandlongitude
togetherwithsomespecificationofheightconstituteageographiccoordinatesystemasdefinedinthespecification
oftheISO19111standard.[1]
Sincetherearemanydifferentreferenceellipsoidsthelatitudeofafeatureonthesurfaceisnotunique:thisis
stressedintheISOstandardwhichstatesthat"withoutthefullspecificationofthecoordinatereferencesystem,
coordinates(thatislatitudeandlongitude)areambiguousatbestandmeaninglessatworst".Thisisofgreat
importanceinaccurateapplications,suchasaGlobalPositioningSystem(GPS),butincommonusage,wherehigh
accuracyisnotrequired,thereferenceellipsoidisnotusuallystated.
InEnglishtextsthelatitudeangle,definedbelow,isusuallydenotedbytheGreeklowercaseletterphi(or).Itis
measuredindegrees,minutesandsecondsordecimaldegrees,northorsouthoftheequator.

AgraticuleontheEarthasa
sphereoranellipsoid.Thelines
frompoletopolearelinesof
constantlongitude,ormeridians.
Thecirclesparalleltotheequator
arelinesofconstantlatitude,or
parallels.Thegraticule
determinesthelatitudeand
longitudeofpointsonthesurface.
Inthisexamplemeridiansare
spacedat6intervalsandparallels
at4intervals.

MeasurementoflatituderequiresanunderstandingofthegravitationalfieldoftheEarth,eitherforsettingup
theodolitesorfordeterminationofGPSsatelliteorbits.ThestudyofthefigureoftheEarthtogetherwithitsgravitationalfieldisthescienceofgeodesy.
Thesetopicsarenotdiscussedinthisarticle.(SeeforexamplethetextbooksbyTorge[2]andHofmannWellenhofandMoritz.)[3]
ThisarticlerelatestocoordinatesystemsfortheEarth:itmaybeextendedtocovertheMoon,planetsandothercelestialobjectsbyasimplechangeof
nomenclature.
Thefollowinglistsareavailable:
Listofcitiesbylatitude
Listofcountriesbylatitude

Contents
1 Historyoflatitudemeasurements
2 Latitudeonthesphere
2.1 Thegraticuleonthesphere
2.2 NamedlatitudesontheEarth
2.3 Mapprojectionsfromthesphere
2.4 Meridiandistanceonthesphere
3 Latitudeontheellipsoid
3.1 Ellipsoids
3.2 Thegeometryoftheellipsoid
3.3 Geodeticandgeocentriclatitudes
3.4 Lengthofadegreeoflatitude
4 Auxiliarylatitudes
4.1 Geocentriclatitude
4.2 Reduced(orparametric)latitude
4.3 Rectifyinglatitude
4.4 Authaliclatitude
4.5 Conformallatitude
4.6 Isometriclatitude
4.7 Inverseformulaeandseries
4.8 Numericalcomparisonofauxiliarylatitudes
5 Latitudeandcoordinatesystems
5.1 Geodeticcoordinates
5.2 Sphericalpolarcoordinates
5.3 Ellipsoidalcoordinates
5.4 Coordinateconversions
6 Astronomicallatitude
7 Seealso
8 Notesandreferences
9 Externallinks

Historyoflatitudemeasurements
TheGreeksstudyingtheresultsofthemeasurementsbytheexplorerPytheaswhovoyagedtoBritainandbeyond,asfarastheArcticCircle(observing
theMidnightsun),in325BCusedseveralmethodstomeasurelatitude,includingtheheightofthesunabovethehorizonatmidday,measuredusinga
gnmn,thelengthofthedayatsummersolstice,andtheelevationofthesunatwintersolstice.
TheGreekMarinusofTyre(AD70130)wasthefirsttoassignalatitudeandlongitudetoeveryplaceonhismaps.
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Fromthelateninthcentury,theArabianKamalwasusedinequatorialregions,tomeasuretheheightofPolarisabovethehorizon.Thisinstrumentcould
onlybeusedinlatitudesclosetothehorizon.
TheMariner'sastrolabewhichgivestheangleofthesunfromthehorizonatnoon,ortheangleofaknownstaratnight,wasusedfromaroundthe
fifteenthcenturytotheseventeenthcentury.
TheBackstaff,whichmeasuresthelengthofashadowwasusedfromthesixteenthcentury,replacedbymoreaccuratemethodssuchastheDavis
quadrantinthesixteenthcentury
TheSextant,whichisstillusedtothisday,wasmentionedbyIsaacNewton(16431727)inhisunpublishedwritings,andfirstimplementedabout1730
byJohnHadley(16821744)andThomasGodfrey(17041749)
Seealso:HistoryofnavigationandOceanexploration.

Latitudeonthesphere
Thegraticuleonthesphere
Thegraticuleformedbythelinesofconstantlatitudeandconstantlongitudeisconstructedwithreferencetothe
rotationaxisoftheEarth.TheprimaryreferencepointsarethepoleswheretheaxisofrotationoftheEarth
intersectsthereferencesurface.Planeswhichcontaintherotationaxisintersectthesurfaceinthemeridiansandthe
anglebetweenanyonemeridianplaneandthatthroughGreenwich(thePrimeMeridian)definesthelongitude:
meridiansarelinesofconstantlongitude.TheplanethroughthecentreoftheEarthandorthogonaltotherotation
axisintersectsthesurfaceinagreatcirclecalledtheequator.Planesparalleltotheequatorialplaneintersectthe
surfaceincirclesofconstantlatitudethesearetheparallels.Theequatorhasalatitudeof0,theNorthPolehasa
latitudeof90north(written90Nor+90),andtheSouthPolehasalatitudeof90south(written90Sor90).
Thelatitudeofanarbitrarypointistheanglebetweentheequatorialplaneandtheradiustothatpoint.
Thelatitudethatisdefinedinthiswayforthesphereisoftentermedthesphericallatitudetoavoidambiguitywith
auxiliarylatitudesdefinedinsubsequentsections.

NamedlatitudesontheEarth

AperspectiveviewoftheEarth
showinghowlatitude()and
longitude()aredefinedona
sphericalmodel.Thegraticule
spacingis10degrees.

Besidestheequator,fourotherparallelsareofsignificance:
ArcticCircle

6634(66.57)N

TropicofCancer

2326(23.43)N

TropicofCapricorn 2326(23.43)S
AntarcticCircle

6634(66.57)S

TheplaneoftheEarth'sorbitaboutthesuniscalledtheeclipticandtheplaneperpendiculartothe
rotationaxisoftheEarthistheequatorialplane.Theanglebetweentheeclipticandtheequatorial
planeiscalledvariouslytheaxialtilt,theobliquity,ortheinclinationoftheecliptic,anditis
conventionallydenotedby .Thelatitudeofthetropicalcirclesisequalto andthelatitudeofthe
polarcirclesisthecomplement.Theaxisofrotationvariesslowlyovertimeandthevaluesgiven
herearethoseforthecurrentepoch.Thetimevariationisdiscussedmorefullyinthearticleonaxial
tilt.[4]

TheorientationoftheEarthattheDecember
solstice.

ThefigureshowsthegeometryofacrosssectionoftheplanenormaltotheeclipticandthroughthecentresoftheEarthandtheSunattheDecember
solsticewhenthesunisoverheadatsomepointoftheTropicofCapricorn.ThesouthpolarlatitudesbelowtheAntarcticCircleareindaylightwhilst
thenorthpolarlatitudesabovetheArcticCircleareinnight.ThesituationisreversedattheJunesolsticewhenthesunisoverheadattheTropicof
Cancer.Onlyatlatitudesinbetweenthetwotropicsisitpossibleforthesuntobedirectlyoverhead(atthezenith).
ThenamedparallelsareclearlyindicatedontheMercatorprojectionsshownbelow.

Mapprojectionsfromthesphere
Onmapprojectionsthereisnosimpleruleastohowmeridiansandparallelsshouldappear.Forexample,onthesphericalMercatorprojectionthe
parallelsarehorizontalandthemeridiansareverticalwhereasontheTransverseMercatorprojectionthereisnocorrelationofparallelsandmeridians
withhorizontalandverticalbotharecomplicatedcurves.Theredlinesarethenamedlatitudesoftheprevioussection.
NormalMercator

TransverseMercator

Formapprojectionsoflargeregions,orthewholeworld,asphericalEarthmodeliscompletelysatisfactorysincethevariationsattributabletoellipticity
arenegligibleonthefinalprintedmaps.

Meridiandistanceonthesphere
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Onthespherethenormalpassesthroughthecentreandthelatitude()isthereforeequaltotheanglesubtendedatthecentrebythemeridianarcfrom
theequatortothepointconcerned.Ifthemeridiandistanceisdenotedbym()then

whereRdenotesthemeanradiusoftheEarth.Risequalto6,371kmor3,959miles.NohigheraccuracyisappropriateforRsincehigherprecision
resultsnecessitateanellipsoidmodel.WiththisvalueforRthemeridianlengthof1degreeoflatitudeonthesphereis111.2kmor69miles.Thelength
of1minuteoflatitudeis1.853km,or1.15miles.(Seenauticalmile).

Latitudeontheellipsoid
Ellipsoids
In1687IsaacNewtonpublishedthePhilosophiNaturalisPrincipiaMathematicainwhichheprovedthatarotatingselfgravitatingfluidbodyin
equilibriumtakestheformofanoblateellipsoid.[5](Thisarticleusesthetermellipsoidinpreferencetotheoldertermspheroid).Newton'sresultwas
confirmedbygeodeticmeasurementsintheeighteenthcentury.(SeeMeridianarc.)Anoblateellipsoidisthethreedimensionalsurfacegeneratedbythe
rotationofanellipseaboutitsshorteraxis(minoraxis)."Oblateellipsoidofrevolution"isabbreviatedto'ellipsoid'intheremainderofthisarticle.
(Ellipsoidswhichdonothaveanaxisofsymmetryaretermedtriaxial.)
Manydifferentreferenceellipsoidshavebeenusedinthehistoryofgeodesy.Inpresatellitedaystheyweredevisedtogiveagoodfittothegeoidover
thelimitedareaofasurveybut,withtheadventofGPS,ithasbecomenaturaltousereferenceellipsoids(suchasWGS84)withcentresatthecentreof
massoftheEarthandminoraxisalignedtotherotationaxisoftheEarth.Thesegeocentricellipsoidsareusuallywithin100mofthegeoid.Since
latitudeisdefinedwithrespecttoanellipsoid,thepositionofagivenpointisdifferentoneachellipsoid:onecannotexactlyspecifythelatitudeand
longitudeofageographicalfeaturewithoutspecifyingtheellipsoidused.Manymapsmaintainedbynationalagenciesarebasedonolderellipsoidssoit
isnecessarytoknowhowthelatitudeandlongitudevaluesaretransformedfromoneellipsoidtoanother.GPShandsetsincludesoftwaretocarryout
datumtransformationswhichlinkWGS84tothelocalreferenceellipsoidwithitsassociatedgrid.

Thegeometryoftheellipsoid
Theshapeofanellipsoidofrevolutionisdeterminedbytheshapeoftheellipsewhichisrotatedaboutitsminor(shorter)axis.Twoparametersare
required.Oneisinvariablytheequatorialradius,whichisthesemimajoraxis,a.Theotherparameterisusually(1)thepolarradiusorsemiminoraxis,
bor(2)the(first)flattening,for(3)theeccentricity,e.Theseparametersarenotindependent:theyarerelatedby

Manyotherparameters(seeellipse,ellipsoid)appearinthestudyofgeodesy,geophysicsandmapprojectionsbuttheycanallbeexpressedintermsof
oneortwomembersoftheseta,b,fande.Bothfandearesmallandoftenappearinseriesexpansionsincalculationstheyareoftheorder1/300and
0.08,respectively.ValuesforanumberofellipsoidsaregiveninFigureoftheEarth.Referenceellipsoidsareusuallydefinedbythesemimajoraxisand
theinverseflattening,1/f.Forexample,thedefiningvaluesfortheWGS84ellipsoid,usedbyallGPSdevices,are[6]
a(equatorialradius):6,378,137.0mexactly
1/f(inverseflattening):298.257223563exactly
fromwhicharederived
b(polarradius):6,356,752.3142m
e2(eccentricitysquared):0.00669437999014
Thedifferenceofthemajorandminorsemiaxesisabout21kmandasfractionofthesemimajoraxisitequalstheflatteningonacomputerthe
ellipsoidcouldbesizedas300pxby299px.Thiswouldbarelybedistinguishablefroma300pxby300pxsphere,soillustrationsusuallyexaggeratethe
flattening.

Geodeticandgeocentriclatitudes
Thegraticuleontheellipsoidisconstructedinexactlythesamewayasonthesphere.Thenormalatapointonthe
surfaceofanellipsoiddoesnotpassthroughthecentre,exceptforpointsontheequatororatthepoles,butthe
definitionoflatituderemainsunchangedastheanglebetweenthenormalandtheequatorialplane.Theterminology
forlatitudemustbemademoreprecisebydistinguishing
Geodeticlatitude:theanglebetweenthenormalandtheequatorialplane.ThestandardnotationinEnglish
publicationsis.Thisisthedefinitionassumedwhenthewordlatitudeisusedwithoutqualification.The
definitionmustbeaccompaniedwithaspecificationoftheellipsoid.
Geocentriclatitude:theanglebetweentheradius(fromcentretothepointonthesurface)andtheequatorial
plane.(Figurebelow).Thereisnostandardnotation:examplesfromvarioustextsinclude,q,',c,g.This
articleuses.
Sphericallatitude:theanglebetweenthenormaltoasphericalreferencesurfaceandtheequatorialplane.
Geographiclatitudemustbeusedwithcare.Someauthorsuseitasasynonymforgeodeticlatitudewhilst
othersuseitasanalternativetotheastronomicallatitude.
Latitude(unqualified)shouldnormallyrefertothegeodeticlatitude.

Thedefinitionofgeodeticlatitude
()andlongitude()onan
ellipsoid.Thenormaltothe
surfacedoesnotpassthroughthe
centre,exceptattheequatorand
atthepoles.

Theimportanceofspecifyingthereferencedatummaybeillustratedbyasimpleexample.Onthereference
ellipsoidforWGS84,thecentreoftheEiffelTowerhasageodeticlatitudeof485129N,or48.8583Nand
longitudeof21740Eor2.2944E.ThesamecoordinatesonthedatumED50defineapointonthegroundwhich
is140mdistantfromthetower.Awebsearchmayproduceseveraldifferentvaluesforthelatitudeofthetowerthereferenceellipsoidisrarely
specified.

Lengthofadegreeoflatitude
InMeridianarcandstandardtexts[2][7][8]itisshownthatthedistancealongameridianfromlatitudetotheequatorisgivenby(inradians)
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where

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isthemeridionalradiusofcurvature.

Thedistancefromtheequatortothepoleis

ForWGS84thisdistanceis10,001.965729km.
Theevaluationofthemeridiandistanceintegraliscentraltomanystudiesingeodesyandmapprojection.Itcanbeevaluatedbyexpandingtheintegral
bythebinomialseriesandintegratingtermbyterm:seeMeridianarcfordetails.Thelengthofthemeridianarcbetweentwogivenlatitudesisgivenby
replacingthelimitsoftheintegralbythelatitudesconcerned.Thelengthofasmallmeridianarcisgivenby[7][8]

Whenthelatitudedifferenceis1degree,correspondingto /180radians,thearcdistanceisabout
0 110.574km 111.320km
15 110.649km 107.550km
Thedistanceinmetres(correctto0.01metre)betweenlatitudes(
is

deg)and(

deg)ontheWGS84spheroid 30 110.852km 96.486km

45 111.132km 78.847km
60 111.412km 55.800km
75 111.618km 28.902km

Thevariationofthisdistancewithlatitude(onWGS84)isshowninthetablealongwiththelengthofadegreeof
longitude(eastwestdistance):

90 111.694km

0.000km

AcalculatorforanylatitudeisprovidedbytheU.S.government'sNationalGeospatialIntelligenceAgency(NGA).[9]
Historicallyanauticalmilewasdefinedasthelengthofoneminuteofarcalongameridianofasphericalearth.Anellipsoidmodelleadstoavariation
ofnauticalmilewithlatitude.Thiswasresolvedbydefiningthenauticalmiletobeexactly1,852meters.

Auxiliarylatitudes
Therearesixauxiliarylatitudesthathaveapplicationstospecialproblemsingeodesy,geophysicsandthetheoryofmapprojections:
Geocentriclatitude
Reduced(orparametric)latitude
Rectifyinglatitude
Authaliclatitude
Conformallatitude
Isometriclatitude
Thedefinitionsgiveninthissectionallrelatetolocationsonthereferenceellipsoidbutthefirsttwoauxiliarylatitudes,likethegeodeticlatitude,canbe
extendedtodefineathreedimensionalgeographiccoordinatesystemasdiscussedbelow.Theremaininglatitudesarenotusedinthiswaytheyareused
onlyasintermediateconstructsinmapprojectionsofthereferenceellipsoidtotheplaneorincalculationsofgeodesicsontheellipsoid.Theirnumerical
valuesarenotofinterest.Forexample,noonewouldneedtocalculatetheauthaliclatitudeoftheEiffelTower.
Theexpressionsbelowgivetheauxiliarylatitudesintermsofthegeodeticlatitude,thesemimajoraxis,a,andtheeccentricity,e.(Forinversessee
below.)Theformsgivenare,apartfromnotationalvariants,thoseinthestandardreferenceformapprojections,namely"Mapprojections:aworking
manual"byJ.P.Snyder.[10]DerivationsoftheseexpressionsmaybefoundinAdams[11]andonlinepublicationsbyOsborne[7]andRapp.[8]

Geocentriclatitude
Thegeocentriclatitudeistheanglebetweentheequatorialplaneandtheradiusfromthecentretoapoint
onthesurface.Therelationbetweenthegeocentriclatitude()andthegeodeticlatitude()isderivedinthe
abovereferencesas

Thegeodeticandgeocentriclatitudesareequalattheequatorandpoles.Thevalueofthesquared
eccentricityisapproximately0.0067(dependingonthechoiceofellipsoid)andthemaximumdifferenceof
()isapproximately11.5minutesofarcatageodeticlatitudeof455.

Reduced(orparametric)latitude

Thedefinitionofgeodetic(orgeographic)
andgeocentriclatitudes.

Thereducedorparametriclatitude,,isdefinedbytheradiusdrawnfromthecentreoftheellipsoidto
thatpointQonthesurroundingsphere(ofradiusa)whichistheprojectionparalleltotheEarth'saxisofapointPontheellipsoidatlatitude .Itwas
introducedbyLegendre[12]andBessel[13]whosolvedproblemsforgeodesicsontheellipsoidbytransformingthemtoanequivalentproblemfor
sphericalgeodesicsbyusingthissmallerlatitude.Bessel'snotation,
,isalsousedinthecurrentliterature.Thereducedlatitudeisrelatedtothe
geodeticlatitudeby:[7][8]

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Thealternativenamearisesfromtheparameterizationoftheequationoftheellipsedescribingameridiansection.In
termsofCartesiancoordinatesp,thedistancefromtheminoraxis,andz,thedistanceabovetheequatorialplane,
theequationoftheellipseis:

TheCartesiancoordinatesofthepointareparameterizedby

Cayleysuggestedthetermparametriclatitudebecauseoftheformoftheseequations.[14]
Thereducedlatitudeisnotusedinthetheoryofmapprojections.Itsmostimportantapplicationisinthetheoryof
ellipsoidgeodesics.(Vincenty,Karney).[15]

Definitionofthereducedlatitude
()ontheellipsoid.

Rectifyinglatitude
Therectifyinglatitude,,isthemeridiandistancescaledsothatitsvalueatthepolesisequalto90degreesor/2radians:

wherethemeridiandistancefromtheequatortoalatitudeis(seeMeridianarc)

andthelengthofthemeridianquadrantfromtheequatortothepole(thepolardistance)is

Usingtherectifyinglatitudetodefinealatitudeonasphereofradius

definesaprojectionfromtheellipsoidtothespheresuchthatallmeridianshavetruelengthanduniformscale.Thespheremaythenbeprojectedtothe
planewithanequirectangularprojectiontogiveadoubleprojectionfromtheellipsoidtotheplanesuchthatallmeridianshavetruelengthanduniform
meridianscale.AnexampleoftheuseoftherectifyinglatitudeistheEquidistantconicprojection.(Snyder,Section16).[10]Therectifyinglatitudeis
alsoofgreatimportanceintheconstructionoftheTransverseMercatorprojection.

Authaliclatitude
Theauthalic(Greekforsamearea)latitude,,givesanareapreservingtransformationtoasphere.

where

and

andtheradiusofthesphereistakenas

AnexampleoftheuseoftheauthaliclatitudeistheAlbersequalareaconicprojection.(Snyder,[10]Section14).

Conformallatitude
Theconformallatitude,,givesananglepreserving(conformal)transformationtothesphere.

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wheregd(x)istheGudermannianfunction.(SeealsoMercatorprojection.)Theconformallatitudedefinesatransformationfromtheellipsoidtoa
sphereofarbitraryradiussuchthattheangleofintersectionbetweenanytwolinesontheellipsoidisthesameasthecorrespondingangleonthesphere
(sothattheshapeofsmallelementsiswellpreserved).Afurtherconformaltransformationfromthespheretotheplanegivesaconformaldouble
projectionfromtheellipsoidtotheplane.Thisisnottheonlywayofgeneratingsuchaconformalprojection.Forexample,the'exact'versionofthe
TransverseMercatorprojectionontheellipsoidisnotadoubleprojection.(Itdoes,however,involveageneralisationoftheconformallatitudetothe
complexplane).

Isometriclatitude
Theisometriclatitudeisconventionallydenotedby(nottobeconfusedwiththegeocentriclatitude):itisusedinthedevelopmentoftheellipsoidal
versionsofthenormalMercatorprojectionandtheTransverseMercatorprojection.Thename"isometric"arisesfromthefactthatatanypointonthe
ellipsoidequalincrementsofandlongitudegiverisetoequaldistancedisplacementsalongthemeridiansandparallelsrespectively.Thegraticule
definedbythelinesofconstantandconstant,dividesthesurfaceoftheellipsoidintoameshofsquares(ofvaryingsize).Theisometriclatitudeis
zeroattheequatorbutrapidlydivergesfromthegeodeticlatitude,tendingtoinfinityatthepoles.TheconventionalnotationisgiveninSnyder(page
15):[10]

ForthenormalMercatorprojection(ontheellipsoid)thisfunctiondefinesthespacingoftheparallels:ifthelengthoftheequatorontheprojectionisE
(unitsoflengthorpixels)thenthedistance,y,ofaparalleloflatitudefromtheequatoris

Theisometriclatitudeiscloselyrelatedtotheconformallatitude:

Inverseformulaeandseries
Theformulaeintheprevioussectionsgivetheauxiliarylatitudeintermsofthegeodeticlatitude.Theexpressionsforthegeocentricandreduced
latitudesmaybeinverteddirectlybutthisisimpossibleinthefourremainingcases:therectifying,authalic,conformal,andisometriclatitudes.There
aretwomethodsofproceeding.Thefirstisanumericalinversionofthedefiningequationforeachandeveryparticularvalueoftheauxiliarylatitude.
ThemethodsavailablearefixedpointiterationandNewtonRaphsonrootfinding.Theother,moreuseful,approachistoexpresstheauxiliarylatitude
asaseriesintermsofthegeodeticlatitudeandtheninverttheseriesbythemethodofLagrangereversion.SuchseriesarepresentedbyAdamswhouses
Taylorseriesexpansionsandgivescoefficientsintermsoftheeccentricity.[11]Osborne[7]derivesseriestoarbitraryorderbyusingthecomputeralgebra
packageMaxima[16]andexpressesthecoefficientsintermsofbotheccentricityandflattening.Theseriesmethodisnotapplicabletotheisometric
latitudeandonemustusetheconformallatitudeinanintermediatestep.

Numericalcomparisonofauxiliarylatitudes
Thefollowingplotshowsthemagnitudeofthedifferencebetweenthegeodeticlatitude,(denotedasthe"common"latitudeontheplot),andthe
auxiliarylatitudesotherthantheisometriclatitude(whichdivergestoinfinityatthepoles).Ineverycasethegeodeticlatitudeisthegreater.The
differencesshownontheplotareinarcminutes.Thehorizontalresolutionoftheplotfailstomakeclearthatthemaximaofthecurvesarenotat45but
calculationshowsthattheyarewithinafewarcminutesof45.Somerepresentativedatapointsaregiveninthetablefollowingtheplot.Notethe
closenessoftheconformalandgeocentriclatitudes.Thiswasexploitedinthedaysofhandcalculatorstoexpeditetheconstructionofmapprojections.
(Snyder,[10]page108).

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Approximatedifferencefromgeodeticlatitude( )
Reduced Authalic Rectifying Conformal Geocentric
0 0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

15 2.91

3.89

4.37

5.82

5.82

30 5.05

6.73

7.57

10.09

10.09

45 5.84

7.78

8.76

11.67

11.67

60 5.06

6.75

7.59

10.12

10.13

75 2.92

3.90

4.39

5.85

5.85

90 0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Latitudeandcoordinatesystems
Thegeodeticlatitude,oranyoftheauxiliarylatitudesdefinedonthereferenceellipsoid,constituteswithlongitudeatwodimensionalcoordinatesystem
onthatellipsoid.Todefinethepositionofanarbitrarypointitisnecessarytoextendsuchacoordinatesystemintothreedimensions.Threelatitudesare
usedinthisway:thegeodetic,geocentricandreducedlatitudesareusedingeodeticcoordinates,sphericalpolarcoordinatesandellipsoidalcoordinates
respectively.

Geodeticcoordinates
AtanarbitrarypointPconsiderthelinePNwhichisnormaltothereferenceellipsoid.Thegeodeticcoordinates
P(,,h)arethelatitudeandlongitudeofthepointNontheellipsoidandthedistancePN.Thisheightdiffersfrom
theheightabovethegeoidorareferenceheightsuchasthatabovemeansealevelataspecifiedlocation.The
directionofPNwillalsodifferfromthedirectionofaverticalplumbline.Therelationofthesedifferentheights
requiresknowledgeoftheshapeofthegeoidandalsothegravityfieldoftheEarth.

Sphericalpolarcoordinates
Thegeocentriclatitudeisthecomplementofthepolarangleinconventionalsphericalpolarcoordinatesin
whichthecoordinatesofapointareP(r,,)whereristhedistanceofPfromthecentreO,istheanglebetween
theradiusvectorandthepolaraxisandislongitude.Sincethenormalatageneralpointontheellipsoiddoesnot
passthroughthecentreitisclearthatpointsonthenormal,whichallhavethesamegeodeticlatitude,willhave
differinggeocentriclatitudes.Sphericalpolarcoordinatesystemsareusedintheanalysisofthegravityfield.

GeodeticcoordinatesP(,,h)

Ellipsoidalcoordinates
Thereducedlatitudecanalsobeextendedtoathreedimensionalcoordinatesystem.ForapointPnotonthe
referenceellipsoid(semiaxesOAandOB)constructanauxiliaryellipsoidwhichisconfocal(samefociF,F')with
thereferenceellipsoid:thenecessaryconditionisthattheproductaeofsemimajoraxisandeccentricityisthesame
forbothellipsoids.Letubethesemiminoraxis(OD)oftheauxiliaryellipsoid.Furtherletbethereducedlatitude
ofPontheauxiliaryellipsoid.Theset(u,,)definetheellipsoidcoordinates.(Torge[2]Section4.2.2).These
coordinatesarethenaturalchoiceinmodelsofthegravityfieldforauniformdistributionofmassboundedbythe
referenceellipsoid.

Coordinateconversions

Geocentriccoordinaterelatedto
sphericalpolarcoordinatesP(r,,
)

Therelationsbetweentheabovecoordinatesystems,andalsoCartesiancoordinatesarenotpresentedhere.The
transformationbetweengeodeticandCartesiancoordinatesmaybefoundinGeographiccoordinateconversion.The
relationofCartesianandsphericalpolarsisgiveninSphericalcoordinatesystem.TherelationofCartesianand
ellipsoidalcoordinatesisdiscussedinTorge.[2]

Astronomicallatitude
Astronomicallatitude()istheanglebetweentheequatorialplaneandthetrueverticalatapointonthesurface.
Thetruevertical,thedirectionofaplumbline,isalsothedirectionofthegravityacceleration,theresultantofthe
gravitationalacceleration(massbased)andthecentrifugalaccelerationatthatlatitude(seeTorge.)[2]Astronomic
latitudeiscalculatedfromanglesmeasuredbetweenthezenithandstarswhosedeclinationisaccuratelyknown.

EllipsoidalcoordinatesP(u,,)

Ingeneralthetrueverticalatapointonthesurfacedoesnotexactlycoincidewitheitherthenormaltothereference
ellipsoidorthenormaltothegeoid.Theanglebetweentheastronomicandgeodeticnormalsisusuallyafew
secondsofarcbutitisimportantingeodesy.[2][3]Thereasonwhyitdiffersfromthenormaltothegeoidis,becausethegeoidisanidealized,theoretical
shape"atmeansealevel".Pointsontherealsurfaceoftheearthareusuallyaboveorbelowthisidealizedgeoidsurfaceandherethetrueverticalcan
varyslightly.Also,thetrueverticalatapointataspecifictimeisinfluencedbytidalforces,whichthetheoreticalgeoidaveragesout.
Astronomicallatitudeisnottobeconfusedwithdeclination,thecoordinateastronomersusedinasimilarwaytodescribethelocationsofstars
north/southofthecelestialequator(seeequatorialcoordinates),norwitheclipticlatitude,thecoordinatethatastronomersusetodescribethelocationsof
starsnorth/southoftheecliptic(seeeclipticcoordinates).

Seealso
Altitude(meansealevel)
Bowditch'sAmericanPracticalNavigator
Cardinaldirection
Declinationoncelestialsphere
DegreeConfluenceProject
Geodesy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latitude

Geodeticdatum
Geographiccoordinatesystem
Geographicaldistance
Geotagging
Greatcircledistance
Horselatitudes
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LatitudeWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Listofcitiesbylatitude
Listofcountriesbylatitude
Longitude
NaturalAreaCode

Navigation
Ordersofmagnitude(length)
WorldGeodeticSystem

Notesandreferences
1.ThecurrentfulldocumentationofISO19111maybepurchasedfromhttp://www.iso.orgbutdraftsofthefinalstandardarefreelyavailableatmanywebsites,one
suchisavailableatthefollowingCSIRO(https://www.seegrid.csiro.au/wiki/pub/Xmml/CoordinateReferenceSystems/19111_FDIS20021107.pdf)
2.Torge,W(2001)Geodesy(3rdedition),publishedbyDeGruyter,ISBN3110170728
3.HofmannWellenhof,BandMoritz,H(2006).'PhysicalGeodesy(secondedition)'ISBN3211335447.
4.Thevalueofthisangletodayis232613.7(or23.43714).ThisfigureisprovidedbyTemplate:Circleoflatitude.
5.IsaacNewton:PrincipiaBookIIIPropositionXIXProblemIII,p.407inAndrewMottetranslation,availableonlineat[1](https://archive.org)
6.TheWGS84parametersarelistedintheNationalGeospatialIntelligenceAgencypublicationTR8350.2(http://earthinfo.nga.mil/GandG/publications/tr8350.2/tr83
50_2.htmlNIMA)page31.
7.Osborne,Peter(2013),TheMercatorProjections,doi:10.5281/zenodo.35392.Chapters5,6.(Latexcodeandfigures)
8.Rapp,RichardH.(1991).GeometricGeodesy,PartI,Dept.ofGeodeticScienceandSurveying,OhioStateUniv.,Columbus,Ohio.[2](http://hdl.handle.net/1811/2
4333)(Chapter3)
9.LengthofdegreecalculatorNationalGeospatialIntelligenceAgency(http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/Calculators/degree.html)
10.Snyder,JohnP.(1987).MapProjections:AWorkingManual.U.S.GeologicalSurveyProfessionalPaper1395.Washington,D.C.:UnitedStatesGovernment
PrintingOffice.ThispapercanbedownloadedfromUSGSpages.(http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubs/pp/pp1395)
11.Adams,OscarS(1921).LatitudeDevelopmentsConnectedWithGeodesyandCartography,(withtables,includingatableforLambertequalareameridional
projection).SpecialPublicationNo.67oftheUSCoastandGeodeticSurvey.AfacsimileofthispublicationisavailablefromtheUSNationalOceanicand
AtmosphericAdministration(NOAA)athttp://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/cgs_specpubs/QB275U35no671921.pdfWarning:Adamsusesthenomenclatureisometric
latitudefortheconformallatitudeofthisarticle(andthroughoutthemodernliterature).
12.A.M.Legendre,1806,Analysedestrianglestracssurlasurfaced'unsphrode,Mm.del'Inst.Nat.deFrance,130161(1stsemester).
13.F.W.Bessel,1825,UberdieBerechnungdergeographischenLangenundBreitenausgeodatischenVermessungen,Astron.Nachr.,4(86),241254,
doi:10.1002/asna.201011352(https://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fasna.201011352),translatedintoEnglishbyC.F.F.KarneyandR.E.DeakinasThecalculationof
longitudeandlatitudefromgeodesicmeasurements,Astron.Nachr.331(8),852861(2010),EprintarXiv:0908.1824,
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1825AN......4..241B.
14.A.Cayley,1870,Onthegeodesiclinesonanoblatespheroid,Phil.Mag.40(4thser.),329340.
15.C.F.F.Karney(2013),Algorithmsforgeodesics,J.Geodesy87(1),4355,DOI:10.1007/s001900120578z(http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s001900120578z).
16.Maximacomputeralgebrasystem(http://maxima.sourceforge.net/)

Externallinks
GEONetsNamesServer(http://earthinfo.nga.mil/gns/html/),accesstotheNationalGeospatialIntelligenceAgency's(NGA)databaseofforeign
geographicfeaturenames.
Resourcesfordeterminingyourlatitudeandlongitude(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlon_find_location.html)
Convertdecimaldegreesintodegrees,minutes,seconds(http://geography.about.com/library/howto/htdegrees.htm)Infoaboutdecimalto
sexagesimalconversion
Convertdecimaldegreesintodegrees,minutes,seconds(http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSSdecimal.html)
Distancecalculationbasedonlatitudeandlongitude(http://www.marinewaypoints.com/learn/greatcircle.shtml)JavaScriptversion
16thCenturyLatitudeSurvey(https://www.academia.edu/12297694/16th_Century_Latitude_Survey)
DeterminationofLatitudebyFrancisDrakeontheCoastofCaliforniain1579(http://www.longcamp.com/nav.html)
LongitudeandLatitudeofPointsofInterest(http://www.thegpscoordinates.com)
Onlinecomputationofallrelevantquantitiesreferringtoanellipsoidallatitudeonachosenreferenceellipsoid(http://www.indubioprogeo.de/in
dex.php?file=ellip/latit0&english=1)
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