A correct understanding of how to work with latitude and longitude coordinates is essential to the students' successful completion of this activity (and the next 2 activities). Both latitude and longitude are angular measures of distance on the Earth's surface and are used to specify locations on the globe. The units of latitude and longitude are degrees (°) and minutes ('), for example: 45° 10.0' is 45 degrees and 10.0 minutes. Each degree of latitude and longitude is made up of 60 minutes, and each minute can be divided into tenths. On a map, latitude is the north-south axis and longitude is the east-west axis. Note that in the western hemisphere, degrees of longitude are negative and become increasingly negative from right-to-left. Since most students are used to positive numbers increasing from left-to-right on an x-axis, this is potentially confusing.

A note about distance units:
1 minute of latitude = 1 nautical mile = 1.85 kilometers
1 meter = 3.28 feet