Where
in the World are
YOU
?
|
|
|
|
|
Topic:
Type of Web
activity:
Materials /
Software needed:
Grade
Level:
Time
involved:
Created:
The Web Science Workshop lessons were created in cooperation with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute .
This site
developed and maintained by
Deborah
Hunt
and
Eric
Muller
.
3601 Lyon
St.
©2000 The Exploratorium |
|
Global Coordinates. Every point on the surface of the Earth has a unique location described by its geographic coordinates . The latitude describes how far the location is from the equator. Any point north of the equator has a latitude between 0 and 90 degrees north. Places south of the equator have latitudes between 0 and 90 degrees south. Longitude describes how far east or west a point is from the prime meridian , a north-south line running from the north pole, through Greenwich, England, and on to the south pole of the Earth. Longitudes vary from 0 to 180 degrees east for the half of the Earth east of Greenwich, England, and from 0 to 180 degrees west for the other half. Terraserver. Microsoft runs a web site with topographic maps and/or images for most of the conterminous 48 US States and some other areas of the world as well. Go to the Terraserver now (this will open a new window) to check if your location is included. In the box labeled "Find a specific place." type in the name of your city. When I did this for San Francisco, I got the following list of cities: PLACE NAME .... AVAILABLE IMAGE 1 San Francisco, New Mexico, United States USGS Topo Map 1 Jul 1980 2 San Francisco, California, United States USGS Aerial Photograph 12 May 1995 3 San Francisco, New Mexico, United States USGS Aerial Photograph 6 Oct 1996 I selected the USGS Topo Map for San Francisco, California, and by clicking on the map I zoomed into the site of the Exploratorium, finally arriving at this view . Using interpolation, as explained on the previous page, I found that the coordinates of the Exploratorium are 37N 48' 10" and 122W 26' 54". Once you have found your coordinates, use them to find your location on a globe. If there is an aerial photograph or satellite image of your area, you may also be able to use one of them to find your coordinates.
|
