Latitude Explorer

What places share your latitude? Explore an interactive globe to discover cities, countries, landscapes, and climates along your parallel.

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What is this?

As a kid, I’d put a finger on a globe, spin it slowly, and see everything that I’d pass while traveling that line.

Still a map nerd, I built this app to bring that same sense of exploration to a browser, with interesting views and data to help guide the journey.

Follow a slice around the world and explore the countries, cities, landmarks, and landscapes along the way. I learn something new almost every time I jump in, and I hope you will too.

Why latitude?

I find latitude more surprising. Traveling north or south, you expect the world to change as you move between the poles and the equator. Following a latitude, you stay just as far from the equator, but the climates and landscapes can still be very different.

Latitude in 60 seconds

Lines of latitude circle the globe from east to west. Their numbers tell you how far north or south of the equator you are, in degrees.

A parallel is a line connecting places at the same latitude. Parallels never meet. Lines of longitude, called meridians, meet at the poles.

One degree of latitude covers about 111 km measured north to south.

What is a slice?

A slice is a band centered on the selected latitude, extending around the world. Widening the slice includes places farther north and south of that latitude.

Explore

Named latitudes

• Arctic Circle · 66°34′N: The gateway to the midnight sun: a latitude where summer daylight lasts around the clock.
• Tropic of Cancer · 23°26′N: Across the Sahara, India, and Taiwan: the farthest north the sun can shine straight down.
• The Equator · 0°00′: The fastest-moving ground on Earth: 1,670 km/h (1,040 mph) of spin.
• Tropic of Capricorn · 23°26′S: Andes, Kalahari, outback: the southern dry belt.
• Antarctic Circle · 66°34′S: A circle of ocean and ice, where summer days can last 24 hours.

Measured parallels

• Biggest seasonal swing · 62°57′N: One spot in Siberia's Yakutia has an average high of −40.7 °C (−41.3 °F) in January and +24.2 °C (+75.6 °F) in July.
• Flattest land · 59°32′N: Three continents, 11,610 km (7,215 miles) of land, and a smaller elevation range than any comparable latitude.
• Most climate zones · ≈33°29′N: From ice cap to hot desert: latitudes between 33°12′N and 33°58′N cross up to 21 Köppen–Geiger climate classes. No latitude crosses more.
• Greatest relief · 27°42′N: From Kangchenjunga's summit to a Pacific trench: a drop of about 17,800 m (11.1 miles) along one latitude.
• Most people · 24°54′N: Nearly 28 million people in a slice just 8 km (5 mi) wide, without a single megacity.
• Humanity's population belt · 24°30′N: A broad peak in Earth's population: nearly one-sixth of the world's population within five degrees of latitude.
• Densest land population · 13°00′N: Mostly ocean, yet its strips of land hold about 19 million people in a slice just 8 km (5 mi) wide.
• Most countries crossed · 10°58′N: The Earth's most border-crossing latitude: 27 countries along one line.

Other interesting latitudes

• Nearly halfway to the North Pole · 45°00′N: Earth's equatorial bulge puts the halfway point just north of 45°N. Follow this parallel through Europe and North America.
• Int’l Latitude Service, 1899 · 39°08′N: From 1899, six observatories on this one parallel tracked the same stars to measure Earth's wobble.
• Band of large cities · 33°36′N: Six cities, each over a million people, in one narrow slice: from Casablanca to Fukuoka.
• Everest's parallel · 27°59′N: Everest stands on this line. So do Gran Canaria, the Sahara, and Baja California.
• Challenger Deep · 11°22′N: The ocean's deepest known point: 10,935 m (35,876 ft) down. Even Everest would fit beneath the waves.
• Chimborazo · 1°28′S: Everest is taller, but Chimborazo sits about 2 km (1.3 miles) farther from Earth's center, due to the equatorial bulge.
• Nearly halfway south, in the Roaring Forties · 45°00′S: Earth's equatorial bulge puts the halfway point just south of 45°S. Follow this parallel through almost a whole lap of ocean.

International lines & treaties

• Fifty-four forty, 1824 · 54°40′N: “Fifty-four forty or fight!” The latitude behind a US demand for land now in western Canada.
• US–Canada border, 1818 · 49°00′N: Agreed on paper in 1818 and pushed to the Pacific in 1846: about 2,030 km (1,260 miles) of border is this one parallel.
• Korea's division, 1945 · 38°00′N: A line chosen on a map in 1945 became the starting point of Korea's division.
• Vietnam's Geneva line, 1954 · 17°00′N: The 1954 line that split Vietnam for 21 years: drawn at a river, remembered as a parallel.
• Antarctic Treaty limit, 1959 · 60°00′S: Cross 60°S into the Antarctic Treaty area, dedicated to peaceful use and scientific cooperation.

United States lines

• Adams–Onís line, 1819 · 42°00′N: The 1819 northern limit of Spanish North America; now the top of California, Nevada, and Utah.
• Mason–Dixon line, 1767 · 39°43′N: A colonial land dispute drew this line; slavery later made it a symbol of North and South.
• Missouri Compromise line, 1820 · 36°30′N: A latitude used to divide land over slavery still outlines the southern edge of Oklahoma's panhandle.
• Pinckney's Treaty line, 1795 · 31°00′N: A former border with Spain still shapes the map: follow 31°N along Florida and Alabama.

Sources

Intersected Countries / Territories

Country and territory borders the slice crosses, from Natural Earth Admin 0 (1:50m). Includes sovereign states, dependencies, and territories as the dataset publishes them: names and entries as listed, without sovereignty adjudication. Each row's capital, languages, currency, and national population come from GeoNames (countryInfo); blanks mean the source has no value for that country.

Natural Earth — Public domain · naturalearthdata.com

GeoNames — CC BY 4.0 · geonames.org

Highest Named Peaks

The 25 highest peaks by elevation on this latitude, from GeoNames (peaks, mountains, and volcanoes, feature codes PK/MT/VLC).

GeoNames — CC BY 4.0 · geonames.org

Largest Named Lakes

Up to 25 of the largest named lakes by surface area on this latitude, from HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016). Surface areas are approximate (generalized polygons); volumes are modeled estimates, in km³ or mi³ with the units setting.

HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) — CC BY 4.0 · hydrosheds.org

Largest Cities

The 25 most populous cities anywhere on this latitude, from GeoNames (cities1000).

GeoNames — CC BY 4.0 · geonames.org

World Heritage Sites

World Heritage sites in the slice, from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre — CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted data under CC BY-SA 4.0 · whc.unesco.org · data.unesco.org

Seas

Seas and oceans the slice crosses, from the IHO Sea Areas v3 boundaries published by the Flanders Marine Institute (Marine Regions). Includes the seven oceans, gulfs, and straits as the publisher defines them. The listed crossing is the distance along THIS latitude, so it changes as the parallel moves; areas are the publisher’s own. Coverage is the published layer’s: the Caspian Sea is not in it, and some named bodies extend up estuaries and inland waters.

Flanders Marine Institute (2018). IHO Sea Areas, version 3 — Terms: marineregions.org · doi.org/10.14284/323

Approximate Band Population

A modeled estimate of the people living inside the slice, summed from a global 30 arc-second (~1 km) population grid across the full width of the band (the whole band, not just the cities listed). From the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-POP R2023A, epoch 2025), which disaggregates census counts onto grid cells, so a band total is an approximation rather than a count. Coverage is the published grid’s: it reaches about 89°06′ north and south, so the last degree at each pole is outside the data.

Schiavina M., Freire S., Carioli A., MacManus K. (2023): GHS-POP R2023A — GHS population grid multitemporal (1975-2030). European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) — © European Union — reuse authorised with proper acknowledgment of the source · data.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Slice Profile (elevation)

Elevation and sea depth along this latitude, from NOAA ETOPO 2022 (60 arc-second, ice surface). Each value is one ETOPO map cell, about 1.85 km from north to south and up to 1.85 km from east to west, so it is not a point or summit elevation: Everest’s cell reads 8,157 m. Highest shows a surveyed summit’s height from GeoNames (8,848 m for Everest) when one in the three-cell strip of longitude that holds the line’s highest cell is at least as high as that cell. Not to be used for navigation.

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. 2022: ETOPO 2022 — CC0 (public domain) · ncei.noaa.gov

Climate Zones (Köppen)

Köppen–Geiger climate classes along this latitude, from the Beck et al. 2023 present-day map (1991–2020, dataset version 2) at its original resolution of about 1 km, drawn as the ribbon under the Slice Profile. The count reads the one row of source cells that holds this latitude, all the way around the world. Every class it crosses counts, however small the patch, with no averaging across the slice’s width and no vote among neighboring rows. Gaps are where the map has no class, mostly open ocean. Fifteen of the lines between 33°12′N and 33°58′N cross 21 distinct classes, and no latitude crosses more.

Beck, H.E. et al. (2023): High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections — 1991–2020 present-day map — CC BY 4.0 · doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02549-6 · Dataset: figshare, version 2

Temperatures (CHELSA)

Average daily high temperatures in January and July along this latitude, from CHELSA V2.1 (1981–2010, 30 arc-seconds, about 1 km), drawn as the two curves and the shaded band under the Slice Profile. Each value is that month’s daily high, averaged over 30 years. Each drawn cell, 1′ of latitude by 3′ of longitude, averages the ~1 km source cells inside it (up to twelve), over land only. Note the period differs from the climate zones above, which use 1991–2020: the two datasets publish different normals, and neither was re-based on the other.

Karger, D.N. et al. (2021): Climatologies at high resolution for the earth's land surface areas, Version 2.1 — 1981–2010 average daily maximum near-surface air temperature, 30 arc-second — CC0 1.0 (public domain) · doi.org/10.16904/envidat.228.v2.1

Regions

First-order administrative divisions from GeoNames: states, provinces, and their equivalents, searchable by name. Each is placed at the coordinate GeoNames records for it, which marks the region for navigation. It is not the region’s boundary, its capital, or its center.

GeoNames — CC BY 4.0 · geonames.org

Map Search

Places found with “Search the map” (anything beyond the datasets above) come from the OpenCage geocoder, which draws mainly on OpenStreetMap. A found place’s point is where the geocoder puts it: for a city or a country, a representative spot, not the whole area.

OpenCage — Geocoding API · opencagedata.com

OpenStreetMap contributors — ODbL · openstreetmap.org