Locating on the Earth There are two basic ways to locate something on the Earth’s surface, relative location and Absolute locations.

Relative Location Relative location is something’s location in relation to something else. These direction are usually given using landmarks. Eg. Mr. Lilly’s house is across from the graveyard on the left.

Absolute Location The other way something can be located is by absolute location. Absolute location is determined by its positioning using the earth’s latitude (east - west) and longitude (north - south) lines.

Latitude lines are called parallels because they run parallel on the globe. They begin at the equator. This is an imaginary line that separates the earth into north and south hemispheres. The equator is at 0 degrees.

Longitude lines or meridians run north to south along the globe. They begin at the prime meridian which separates the world into east and west. The prime meridian starts at 0 degrees. It is sometimes called the Greenwich meridian because it passes through a suburb on London England named Greenwich.