Kaelen didn’t care for history books, but he lived for the sea. As a junior navigator on the S.S. Venturer , his job was to stare at the glowing screens of the GPS, tracking their crawl across the vast, empty Pacific.
When we look at a map or use a GPS, we often take for granted the invisible grid that helps us pinpoint our exact location on Earth. While latitude lines (parallels) circle the globe horizontally, —better known as longitude—provide the vertical framework necessary for global navigation, timekeeping, and mapping. What are Meridian Coordinates? meridian coordinates
It wasn't until the Bronze Figure of the Song Dynasty (1026 CE) that the first "coordinate mapping" occurred. Imperial physician Wang Weiyi cast two life-sized bronze statues engraved with 354 meridian points. Holes were drilled at the exact coordinates, and the statues were coated in wax. Students had to insert a needle into the wax to reach a pool of mercury inside. If the was miscalculated by even a millimeter, the needle would hit solid bronze. Kaelen didn’t care for history books, but he
Open your favorite map app, long-press a spot, and look for those two numbers. You’re now reading the literal address of the planet! manually calculate your longitude using a watch and the sun? meridian coordinates When we look at a map