Latitude is the distance North or South of the Equator.

Latitude is measured in degrees. In the picture below, you can see how the angle measures are derived — the poles are perpendicular to the equator (0 degrees) and thus the latitude at the poles is 90 degrees.

Latitudinal lines are parallel to the Equator, which is the Earth’s circumference. Latitudinal lines closer to the Equator have an angle measure smaller than that of those latitudes near the poles.

Latitude is used for navigation – you hear them talk about latitude a lot when talking about ships.