1.
Timber framing
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Timber framing and post-and-beam construction are methods of building with heavy timbers rather than dimensional lumber such as 2x4s. Traditional timber framing is the method of creating structures using heavy squared-off and it is commonplace in wooden buildings from the 19th century and earlier. The method comes from making out of logs and tree trunks without modern high tech saws to cut lumber from the starting material stock. Since this building method has been used for thousands of years in parts of the world. These styles are categorized by the type of foundation, walls, how and where the beams intersect, the use of curved timbers. Three basic types of frames in English-speaking countries are the box frame, cruck frame. The distinction presented here is the load is carried by the exterior walls. Purlins are also in a timber frame. A cruck is a pair of crooked or curved timbers which form a bent or crossframe, more than 4,000 cruck frame buildings have been recorded in the UK. Several types of frames are used, more information follows in English style below. True cruck or full cruck, blades, straight or curved, base cruck, tops of the blades are truncated by the first transverse member such as by a tie beam. Raised cruck, blades land on masonry wall, and extend to the ridge, middle cruck, blades land on masonry wall, and are truncated by a collar. Upper cruck, blades land on a tie beam, very similar to knee rafters, jointed cruck, blades are made from pieces joined near eaves in a number of ways. See also, hammerbeam roof End cruck is not a style, aisled frames have one or more rows of interior posts. These interior posts typically carry more load than the posts in the exterior walls. This is the concept of the aisle in church buildings, sometimes called a hall church. However, a nave is often called an aisle, and three-aisled barns are common in the U. S. the Netherlands, aisled buildings are wider than the simpler box-framed or cruck-framed buildings, and typically have purlins supporting the rafters. In northern Germany, this construction is known as variations of a Ständerhaus, the frame is often left exposed on the exterior of the building
2.
The Old House, Hereford
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The Old House is a historic and distinctive black and white half-timbered house in High Town, Hereford, England, built in 1621. The Old House is a well-preserved half-timbered Jacobean building in the centre of Hereford and it was built in 1621 as part of Butchers Row. In 1816, other buildings on the row started to be demolished and it has been used by butchers, ironmongers, and bankers during its existence. Old House is now the remaining house in the original row. Since 1929, the Old House has been a museum presenting life in Jacobean times, the house is furnished in the style of the period. Objects on display include baby walkers, beds, and wall paintings, grade I listed buildings in Herefordshire List of museums in Herefordshire Hereford Museum and Art Gallery The Old House, Herefordshire Council Black and White Houses
3.
Hereford
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Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles east of the border with Wales,24 miles southwest of Worcester, with a population of 58,896, it is the largest settlement in the county. The name Hereford is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon here, an army or formation of soldiers, and the ford, if this is the origin it suggests that Hereford was a place where a body of armed men forded or crossed the Wye. The Welsh name for Hereford is Henffordd, meaning old road, much of the county of Herefordshire was Welsh-speaking, as reflected in the Welsh names of many places in the county. An early town charter from 1189 granted by Richard I of England describes it as Hereford in Wales, Hereford has been recognised as a city since time immemorial, with the status being reconfirmed as recently as October 2000. It is now known chiefly as a centre for a wider agricultural and rural area. Products from Hereford include, cider, beer, leather goods, nickel alloys, poultry, chemicals, hostilities between the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh came to a head with the Battle of Hereford in 760, in which the Britons freed themselves from the influence of the English. Hereford had the only mint west of the Severn in the reign of Athelstan, and it was to Hereford, then a border town, the present Hereford Cathedral dates from the early 12th century, as does the first bridge across the Wye. Former Bishops of Hereford include Saint Thomas de Cantilupe and Lord High Treasurer of England Thomas Charlton. The city gave its name to two suburbs of Paris, France, Maisons-Alfort and Alfortville, due to a manor built there by Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, in the middle of the 13th century. Hereford, a base for successive holders of the title Earl of Hereford, was once the site of a castle, Hereford Castle, which rivalled that of Windsor in size and scale. This was a base for repelling Welsh attacks and a stronghold for English kings such as King Henry IV when on campaign in the Welsh Marches against Owain Glyndŵr. The castle was dismantled in the 18th century and landscaped into Castle Green, after the Battle of Mortimers Cross in 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, the defeated Lancastrian leader Owen Tudor was taken to Hereford by Sir Roger Vaughan and executed in High Town. A plaque now marks the spot of the execution, Vaughan was later himself executed, under a flag of truce, by Owens son Jasper. During the civil war the city changed several times. On 30 September 1642 Parliamentarians led by Sir Robert Harley and Henry Grey, in December they withdrew to Gloucester because of the presence in the area of a Royalist army under Lord Herbert. The city was occupied briefly from 23 April to 18 May 1643 by Parliamentarians commanded by Sir William Waller. On 31 July 1645 a Scottish army of 14,000 under Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven besieged the city but met resistance from its garrison
4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
5.
Jacobean architecture
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The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated, at the start of James reign there was little stylistic break in architecture, as Elizabethan trends continued their development. Courtiers continued to build prodigy houses, even though James spent less time on summer progresses round his realm than Elizabeth had. The influence of Flemish and German Northern Mannerism increased, now often executed by immigrant craftsmen and artists, there continued to be very little building of new churches, though a considerable amount of modifications to old ones, but a great deal of secular building. Although the general lines of Elizabethan design remained, there was a consistent and unified application of formal design. Much use was made of columns and pilasters, round-arch arcades and these and other classical elements appeared in a free and fanciful vernacular rather than with any true classical purity. With them were mixed the prismatic rustications and ornamental detail of scrolls, straps, the style influenced furniture design and other decorative arts. In 1577, three years before the commencement of Wollaton Hall, a copybook of the orders was out in Antwerp by Hans Vredeman de Vries. Inside the house, the elaborately carved staircase demonstrates the Renaissance influence on English ornament, in 1607 and 1620, England founded her first successful colonies, Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts. This concurs with the dimensions of houses that would have been found amongst the English commoner classes as evidenced by the tax rolls of the Jacobean era. Examples of original Jacobean architecture in the Americas include Drax Hall Great House and St. Nicholas Abbey, Jacobean era Jacobean revival M. Whiffen, An Introduction to Elizabethan and Jacobean Architecture. J. Summerson, Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Spiers, R. Phene
6.
Butcher
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A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or do any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments, a butcher may be employed by supermarkets, grocery stores, butcher shops and fish markets, slaughter house, or may be self-employed. An ancient trade, whose duties may date back to the domestication of livestock, today, many jurisdictions offer trade certifications for butchers. Some areas expect a three-year apprenticeship followed by the option of becoming a master butcher, butchery is a traditional line of work. In the industrialized world, slaughterhouses use butchers to slaughter the animals, the steps include stunning, exsanguination, skinning or scalding and dehairing, evisceration and splitting. Secondary butchery involves boning and trimming primal cuts in preparation for sale, historically, primary and secondary butchery were performed in the same establishment, but the advent of methods of preservation and low cost transportation has largely separated them. In parts of the world, it is common for butchers to perform many or all of the butchers duties, where refrigeration is less common, these skills are required to sell the meat of slaughtered animals. Some butchers sell their goods in specialized stores, commonly termed a butcher shop, butchers at a butcher shop may perform primary butchery, but will typically perform secondary butchery to prepare fresh cuts of meat for sale. These shops may also sell related products, such as food supplies, baked goods. Butcher shops can have a variety of animal types, meat cuts. Additionally, butcher shops may focus on a culture, or nationality. Some butcher shops, termed meat delis, may include a delicatessen. In the United States and Canada, butcher shops are becoming common because of the increasing popularity of supermarkets. A primal cut is a piece of meat initially separated from the carcass during butchering, different countries and cultures make these cuts in different ways, and primal cuts also differ between type of carcass. The British, American and French primal cuts all differ in some respects, a notable example is fatback, which in Europe is an important primal cut of pork, but in North America is regarded as trimmings to be used in sausage or rendered into lard. The primal cuts may be complete or cut further. See also Butcher In various periods and cultures, the butcher has been applied to people who act cruelly to other human beings or slaughter them
7.
Ironmongery
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Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium, brass, or other metals, the term ironmonger as a supplier of consumer goods is still widely used in Great Britain, the US equivalent being hardware store. Many architectural ironmongery items are manufactured for wholesale and commercial use in offices. The second half of the 20th century saw the decline of ironmongers’ shops. Although every small town in Britain used to have at least one, there has even been renewed use of “blacksmith nails” – four-sided hand-made rosehead nails. In some areas, ironmonger is also slang for an arms dealer, giving rise to numerous fictional characters by the name
8.
Worshipful Company of Butchers
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The Worshipful Company of Butchers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London, England. Records indicate that an organisation of Butchers existed as early as 975, the Butchers Guild, the Butchers Guild was incorporated by Royal Charter centuries later, in 1605. The Butchers still, unlike other Livery Companies, continues to exist as an association for members of the industry. However, the Company does contribute, like all Livery Companies, the Company ranks twenty-fourth in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies. The Companys motto is, Omnia Subiecisti Sub Pedibus, Oves Et Boves, from the Book of Psalms and Latin for, Thou Hast Put All Things Under Mans Feet, All Sheep, the Companys headquarters is at Butchers Hall. The Butchers has had several halls throughout its history, the first was located in Monkwell Street, the next Hall near St Bartholomews Hospital was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, together with forty three other Livery Company Halls. Its successor in Pudding Lane was again burnt down, rebuilt in 1829-30, a new Hall was built at the present site in Bartholomew Close, which was bombed in both world wars,1915 and again in 1944. The Companys present Hall dates from 1960, following the Queen Mothers death in March 2002, her granddaughter, HRH the Princess Royal was admitted to the Honorary Freedom of the Company. Like the Queen Mother, the Princess Royal takes a keen interest in Company affairs, the Butchers Hall and St Bartholomews Hospital have also stood side by side for years, forging links that continue to this day. The Butchers also maintains relations with Commonwealth and international associations. For instance, the Australian High Commissioner and New Zealand High Commissioner are customarily granted the Honorary Freedom of the Company, St Bartholomew-the-Great is the Butchers adopted Church, and is where the Companys Annual Church Service takes place prior to Common Hall. The Honorary Chaplain to the Master Butcher is often the Rector of St Barts, Livery Company Smithfield Market St Bartholomew-the-Great The Butchers Company The Arms of Worshipful Company of Butchers
9.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
10.
Baby walker
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A baby walker is a device that can be used by infants who cannot walk on their own to move from one place to another. Modern baby walkers have a made of hard plastic sitting on top of wheels. Many parents believe that such walkers teach a child to walk faster, however, they may actually delay walking by two to three weeks for a typical child. The amount of use matters, for every 24 hours babies spend in a baby walker, baby walkers have also led to many preventable injuries. These include injuries from falling down stairs while moving around in the baby walker, consumer Product Safety Commission, American Academy of Pediatrics, Kids In Danger, and other organizations have issued warnings to discourage parents from using baby walkers. Direct education of parents in a medical setting reduces parents willingness to use these devices, in Canada, the sale of baby walkers was banned on April 7,2004. Canada is the first country in the world to ban the sale, importation and this ban extends to modified and second hand baby walkers, including those sold at a yard sales or flea markets. The Consumers Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 changed the items that were allowed to be sold at such sales, owners of baby walkers may be fined up to CA $100,000 or sentenced to up to six months in jail. There is some promising evidence that government regulation of baby walker designs can reduce the number of injuries due to falling while using a baby walker. Parent-assisted baby walkers were developed as an alternative to traditional baby walkers and these types of baby walkers differ greatly from traditional baby walkers as they have no wheels and require full parent assistance while in use. The design of modern parent-assisted baby walkers is similar to leading strings in that the child is suspended upright from straps while learning to walk, parent-assisted baby walkers offer a safer method for teaching a child to walk over traditional baby walkers that can be unattended while in use. There are also immobile play centers, which look similar to baby walkers. Consequently, the baby is unable to move to dangerous locations, some toys with wheels are designed for young children to hold on to while they are walking. Baby walkers were known as early as the 15th century in Europe, an illumination in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a Dutch manuscript from that time, depicts the infant Jesus in a wooden baby walker. Go-cart was a historical name for the wheeled version. A baby-runner was a wooden ring, set at the height of the babys waist, on a pole that was fixed into the floor. The baby was placed inside the ring and able to move in a circle around the pole and this prevented the baby from reaching dangerous places, such as hot ovens
11.
Mural
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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture. Some wall paintings are painted on canvases, which are then attached to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called murals is a subject of controversy in the art world. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France, many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs, the Minoan palaces and in Pompeii. During the Middle Ages murals were executed on dry plaster. The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco, in Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting. In modern times, the became more well-known with the Mexican muralism art movement. There are many different styles and techniques, the best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry, the marouflage method has also been used for millennia. Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media, the styles can vary from abstract to trompe-lœil. Initiated by the works of artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-loeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a layer of wet, fresh. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours. After this the painting stays for a time up to centuries in fresh. Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster, the pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg, glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. By the end of the century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work, in Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used
12.
Penrhyn Bay
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Penrhyn Bay is a small town on the north Wales coast, in Conwy county borough, within the parish or community of Llandudno, and part of the ecclesiastical parish of Llanrhos. Here there is a highschool called Ysgol y Creuddyn and a school called Ysgol Glanwydden. It is considered to be a suburb of Llandudno lying east of the Little Orme. It adjoins the resort of Rhos-on-Sea, the population of Penrhyn Ward at the 2011 census was 4,883. The oldest building in Penrhyn Bay is Penrhyn Old Hall dating from the early 15th century and it was the home of the Pugh family whose fortunes faded through their adherence to the Catholic religion when their neighbours reluctantly accepted Protestantism. They had taken there during the persecution of Catholics instigated by Queen Elizabeth I in May 1586. In the grounds of the hall are the ruins of the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Penrhyn. The Pugh family also held a charter and built a windmill to serve their land in the village of Glanwydden the first charter dating 1580. The hall now serves as a pub and restaurant, however, Penrhyn Bay expanded rapidly in the 20th century to become a desirable suburb of Llandudno, with developments taking place in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. Most recently, in the 1990s, further development of family homes took place to the south of the town. Llandudno Queen of Welsh Resorts Landmark, Ashbourne Derbyshire 2002 ISBN 1-84306-048-5, cytûn - Church Services in Llandudno and Penrhyn Bay www. geograph. co. uk, photos of Penrhyn Bay and surrounding area Penrhyn Bay Presbyterian Church
13.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
14.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
