Latitude

Angular distance north or south of the Equator, expressed from 0 degrees to 90 degrees.

Latitude identifies a parallel on a chosen geodetic reference system and is written with N or S, commonly in degrees and decimal minutes or decimal degrees. Together with longitude it specifies a position on or near the Earth.

One minute of latitude is approximately one nautical mile, a relationship underlying the nautical mile, but scale and chart projection still matter when measuring. Coordinates must retain their hemisphere, datum and format because confusing degrees, minutes, decimal minutes and decimal degrees can create large position errors.