Prime Meridian on World Geodetic System (London)

United Kingdom / England / Westham / London
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0.00 Longitude, according to the Google Maps coordinates.

The old astronomical prime meridian has been replaced by a more modern prime meridian. When Greenwich was an active observatory, geographical coordinates were referred to a local oblate spheroid called a datum, whose surface closely matched local mean sea level, called the geoid. Several data were in use around the world, all using different spheroids, because mean sea level undulates by as much as 100 metres world-wide. Modern geodetic reference systems, such as the World Geodetic System and the International Terrestrial Reference Frame, use a single Earth-centered oblate spheroid. The shift from several spheroids to one world-wide spheroid caused all geographical coordinates to shift by many metres, sometimes as much as several hundred metres. The Prime Meridian of these modern reference systems is about 100 metres east of the Greenwich astronomical meridian represented by the brass strip at the Meridian House. [Source: Wikipedia's Royal_Observatory,_Greenwich article]

www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-real-greenwich-prime-me...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observatory,_Greenwich
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°28'39"N   0°0'0"E

Comments

  • This is according to the WGS84 datum, which is also conveniently used by the Google Maps API (and hence by Wikimapia). That makes it easy to find! I like the original prime meridian through the middle of the observatory though. Why did they have to go and move it? <shakes head>
  • They should mark new prime meridian. Greenwich Park can have two meridians. That will be something!
This article was last modified 4 years ago