1. The Five Themes of Geography:
location

2. Where is new Orleans? What information does this map tell you?
What information is missing?

3. Absolute location vs. Relative location
Absolute location is the exact place on earth where a geographic feature, such as a city, is found.
New Orleans is
29º 57' N, 090º 04' W 
Relative location describes a place in comparison to other places around it.
Positioned in both the northern and western hemispheres
North America
Gulf Region
Southeastern Louisiana
Mouth of the Mississippi

4. FINDING ABSOLUTE LOCATION
Grid system of imaginary lines for precisely locating places on the earth’s surface – longitude and latitude
Earth is divided into two equal halves. Each half of the globe is called a hemisphere
The equator is the imaginary line that divides the north and south halves
The prime meridian is the imaginary line dividing the earth east and west. (A.K.A. the Greenwich Meridian Line it runs through Greenwich, England)

5. Measured in “Parallels”
Latitude
Measured in “Parallels”
Imaginary lines circling the earth parallel to the Equator
Measure the distance North or South of the Equator
Equator divides world in North and South Hemisphere
Think, ‘Ladder-tude’

6. Special latitude points
North Pole = 90°N
Arctic Circle = 66.5°N
Tropic of Cancer = 23 ½°N
Equator = 0°
Tropic of Capricorn = 23 ½°S
Antarctica = 66.5°S
South Pole = 90°S
Special latitude points

7. Measured in “Meridians”
Longitude
Measured in “Meridians”
Imaginary vertical lines running from pole to pole
Measure distance East or West of the Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian divides the Earth in Eastern and Western Hemispheres
Up to 180 degrees in each direction

8. Special longitude lines
Prime Meridian
(Greenwich, England = 0°
International Date Line
= 180°
Special longitude lines

9. Latitude & Longitude