Latitude and longitude work together to identify locations on Earth, but they measure different directions. Latitude measures north and south of the Equator, while longitude measures east and west of the Prime Meridian.
Latitude tells you how far north or south a point is. Longitude tells you how far east or west it is.
Measures position north or south of the Equator.
Measures position east or west of the Prime Meridian.
The two coordinate components are related, but their direction, range and reference lines are different.
Latitude lines run east-west and remain parallel to the Equator.
Longitude lines run from pole to pole and converge at the North and South Poles.
In the standard geographic coordinate order used throughout FindLatLong, latitude comes first and longitude comes second.
The negative latitude indicates that the point is south of the Equator.
The positive longitude indicates that the point is east of the Prime Meridian.
Together they identify one specific geographic position.
Click anywhere on our interactive world map to see the latitude, longitude, DMS coordinates and hemispheres of the selected point.
Latitude lines run east-west, but latitude measures north-south position. Longitude lines run north-south, but longitude measures east-west position.
Reversing latitude and longitude can point to a completely different place.
Negative latitude means south. Negative longitude means west.
Latitude cannot exceed ±90°, while longitude can extend to ±180°.
Explore related guides to understand geographic coordinates in more detail.
Explore latitude and longitude visually or convert coordinate formats.