Please help me! I have a Geography problem...?

Question

I have a summer reading assignment and I have no idea how to get the absolute location on a globe. I'm not looking for the direct answer, I just need to know how to find the answer. I'm not a stupid person, I've just never had to do this and I'm in IB. I don't know how to find the degrees of a location on a globe. I have to find the absolute location of Hong Kong. I am so confused on how to do it. I've looked it up on Google but it didn't work. Please, help me! This assignment isn't due until the first day of school but I'm not a procrastinator and I need to get it done.

Answer 1

22° 18' N    114° 10' E

Answer 2

Here's how it works:  Maps usually have equally spaced horizontal and verical lines drawn on them.  The horizontal lines are called latitude (think of the steps of a ladder) lines and the vertical lines are called longitude lines.  On a globe these are actually circles that go all the way around the earth.  You know the equator.  This is the same as a latitude of 0°.  If you can imagine rings above and below the equator, these are given numbers that go up from there.  If you start at the equator and go up the ladder to the next ring, say to Mexico City, this would be about 19° North. The degrees keep increasing as you go north.  Go to New York City.  This would be another ring or 2 higher.  It's at 40° N.  The same works for going south.  If you start at the equator and go south to Hong Kong, you're at 19° S.  If you keep going south to Sydney, Australia, you're at 34° S.  The degrees also increase the further south you go.  The only difference is that you have to label the degrees either N or S (relative to the equator).  I hope that explains lattitude.  

Now for longitude.  Imagine vertical rings on the globe.  England thinks there the greatest, so the line that goes through London is 0° longitude.  Now if you go west from there to New York City, you pass a few vertical circles until you get to 74° W.  Keep going to Los Angeles and you get to 118°W.

Another way of looking at this is to imagine laying a measuring tape on the globe.  If you start from the equator at zero and run it to the north pole, you can measure the vertical distance from the equator.  You can also measure the horizontal distance from the "London Line".  You have to measure them one at a time and the measuring tape has to be either perfectly horizontal or perfectly vertical.  

Now when you go to measure for Hong Kong, you have to go East from the London Line. How far east? 114° E.  How far north is Hong Kong above the equator? 22°N.  The absolute location then is 22°N, 114°E.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Geographic coordinates: 22 15 N, 114 10 E