Circle of latitude Circle of latitude A circle of latitude on Earth is an abstract east–west circle connecting all locations around Earth (ignoring elevation) at a given latitude. Circles of latitude are often called parallels because they are parallel to each other; that is, any two circles are always the same distance apart. A location's position along a circle of latitude is given by its longitude. Circles of latitude are unlike circles of longitude, which are all great circles with the centre of Earth in the middle, as the circles of latitude get smaller as the distance from the Equator increases. Their length
Latitude to radians, the arc distance is about The distance in metres (correct to 0.01 metre) between latitudes formula_7 − 0.5 degrees and formula_7 + 0.5 degrees on the WGS84 spheroid is The variation of this distance with latitude (on WGS84) is shown in the table along with the length of a degree of longitude (east-west distance): A calculator for any latitude is provided by the U.S. Government's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The following graph illustrates the variation of both a degree of latitude and a degree of longitude with latitude. Historically a nautical mile was defined as the length of