Longitude explained to kids

The longitude of a point on Earth's surface is the angular distance east or west from a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great circles, and they all intersect at the poles. A given meridian can be taken as the reference meridian, or any other meridian can be chosen as longitude 0°. The longitude of the meridian that passes through Greenwich, England, is defined as 0°; all other meridians are measured relative to it. The prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England, is at longitude 0°. The International Date Line is at longitude 180°. Latitude and longitude can be used to specify the precise location of features on the surface of the Earth. Latitude is a measure of how far north or south of the equator a location is, and is given as a number between 0° and 90° (with 0° being at the equator, and 90° being at the North or South Pole). Longitude is a measure of how far east or west of the prime meridian a location is, and is given as a number between 0° and 180° (with 0° being at the prime meridian, and 180° being at the International Date Line). Latitude and longitude can also be used together to specify a precise location on the surface of the Earth. For example, the Eiffel Tower is at latitude 48.8582° N, longitude 2.2945° E. Latitude and longitude can be measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, or in decimal degrees. One degree of latitude or longitude is equal to 1/360 of the circumference of the Earth. One minute of latitude or longitude is equal to 1/60 of a degree, and one second of latitude or longitude is equal to 1/60 of a minute. Latitude is usually measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds (e.g. 48° 51' 29" N). Longitude is usually measured in decimal degrees (e.g. 2.2945° E). The latitude and longitude of a specific location can be found using a map or GPS system.