How to Read Latitude and Longitude

This article is a step by step process of how to read latitude and longitude. After you read this How to you will be able read the lat and the long with precise detail of degrees, minutes, and seconds.

Instructions

1. Take a latitude and longitude reading of 30° 60′ 10" S, 21° 50′ 15" W. By unscrambling this quadrant you can read this as 30 degrees 60 minutes 10 seconds SOUTH and 21 degrees 50 minutes 15 seconds WEST.
   ° means Degrees
   ′ means Minutes
   " means Seconds

2. The planet Earth is round and can be divided in to three hundred and sixty five degrees because it is a circle.You can divide each degree in to sixty minutes, each minute into sixty seconds. Except these as units of measurement and not a unit of time.

3. Use latitude and longitude to find a specific location in the world. You can buy a hand held device to prevent getting lost in the wilderness but most Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) are able to determine you exact latitude and longitude and will give you the reading in terms of lat. and lon. location.