What is the Difference Between Altitude and Latitude?

The difference between altitude and latitude lies in their definitions and the parameters they represent:

• Latitude: This is the angular distance, measured in degrees, north or south from the equator. Latitude is used to express how high a point is located on the globe above the equator. When used in the context of geometry and geography, it refers to the location of a point on Earth's surface based on the north-south position of the point considered.
• Altitude: Altitude has two distinct meanings depending on the context:

1. In geography and aviation, altitude refers to the height of a point above sea level, measured in units of length such as meters or feet. It represents the distance from the ground level to the highest point on land.
2. In astronomy, altitude is the angular position above the horizon of an observer. It is an angular measurement from the horizon and is measured in degrees.

In summary, latitude represents the angular distance of a location from the equator, while altitude can refer to the height of a point above sea level or the angular position of an object above the horizon of an observer.

Comparative Table: Altitude vs Latitude

The difference between altitude and latitude is that altitude represents the height of a location above mean sea level, while latitude is an angular measurement that indicates the location's distance from the equator. To create a table illustrating the difference between altitude and latitude, consider the following:

To store altitude and latitude in a database, you can use a POINT data type for latitude and longitude, and a DECIMAL data type for altitude. For example, in MySQL, you can create a table like this:

CREATE TABLE Mountain (
  Location POINT NOT NULL,
  -- Latitude/longitude
  Altitude DECIMAL(12, 2) -- Altitude or height in meters or feet or furlongs if you prefer
) ENGINE=InnoDB;

This table will store latitude and longitude as a POINT, and altitude as a DECIMAL value.