Record of humanity's attempts to find east-west position on Earth
Monuments of International Longitude Determination at Sheshan Observatory, Shanghai
The history of longitude describes the centuries-long effort by astronomers, cartographers and navigators to discover a means of determining the longitude of any given place on Earth. The measurement of longitude is important to both cartography and navigation. In particular, for safe ocean navigation, knowledge of both latitude and longitude is required, however latitude can be determined with good accuracy with local astronomical observations.
Finding an accurate and practical method of determining longitude took centuries of study and invention by some of the greatest scientists and engineers. Determining longitude relative to the meridian through some fixed location requires that observations be tied to a time scale that is the same at both locations, so the longitude problem reduces to finding a way to coordinate clocks at distant places. Early approaches used astronomical events that could be predicted with great accuracy, such as eclipses, and building clocks, known as chronometers, that could keep time with sufficient accuracy while being transported great distances by ship. Later methods used the telegraph and then radio to synchronize clocks. Today the problem of longitude has been solved to centimeter accuracy through satellite navigation.
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The historyoflongitude describes the centuries-long effort by astronomers, cartographers and navigators to discover a means of determining the longitude...
Longitude (/ˈlɒndʒɪtjuːd/, AU and UK also /ˈlɒŋɡɪ-/) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the...
Longitude Act 1714 was an Act of Parliament of Great Britain passed in July 1714 at the end of the reign of Queen Anne. It established the Board of Longitude...
determination of a ship's longitude at sea. The prizes, established through an Act of Parliament (the Longitude Act) in 1714, were administered by the Board of Longitude...
positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various spatial reference systems that are...
Discovery of the Longitude at Sea, or more popularly Board ofLongitude, was a British government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended...
solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea...
latitudes and longitudeHistoryof geodesy Historyof latitude Historyoflongitude Ma Jun Shen Kuo List of explorers Maritime historyof the United States...
pole Circle of equal altitude Ephemeris Geodetic astronomy GNSS Satellite navigation Historyoflongitude List of proper names of stars List of selected...
Longitude Festival is a music festival that takes place during July every year in Dublin, Ireland. Since 2013, Marlay Park has been home to the festival...
des Longitudes (French: [byʁo de lɔ̃ʒityd]) is a French scientific institution, founded by decree of 25 June 1795 and charged with the improvement of nautical...
is an arbitrarily-chosen meridian (a line oflongitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian...
Hadley (1682–1744) and Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749). Historyof geodesy HistoryoflongitudeHistoryof navigation International Latitude Service Ocean exploration...
Section: Historyoflongitude § Land surveying and telegraphy. The telegraph was very important for sending time signals to determine longitude, providing...
offshore to verify the setting of their marine chronometers. Accurate timekeeping is essential to the determination oflongitude at sea. Although time balls...
third of New South Wales was controlled by fewer than 2,000 pastoralists. In 1825, the western boundary of New South Wales was extended to longitude 129°...
coordinates to locations on the surface of the Earth. Like the traditional method of latitude and longitude, it is a horizontal position representation...
water hemispheres Omphalos of Delphi (ancient Greeks' navel of the Earth) Prime meridian – Line oflongitude, at which longitude is defined to be 0° "Geo...
development during this period of accurate marine chronometers required in celestial navigation to determine longitude during sea voyages produced many...
Mystery of Gran Cocal. Mourelle's map and journal named the island El Gran Cocal ('The Great Coconut Plantation'); however, the latitude and longitude was...
Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich. They are situated between the Latitude of 21*30' and 22*15' N and between the Longitudeof 199*20' and 201*30'...
the ecliptic into 12 equal parts ("signs"), each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations...
the point, and the plane of the equator. Two levels of abstraction are employed in the definitions of latitude and longitude. In the first step the physical...
to the ascent of man. Theory of the Earth and Abstract of the Theory of the Earth Paleomaps Since 600 Ma (Mollweide Projection, Longitude 0) Archived 2012-10-20...
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