It occurred to me that latitude and longitude are not homologous in that the lines of latitude lie on parallel planes or slices through Earth, while lines of longitude are not parallel and meet at the poles, forming segments through Earth. Obviously the Earth's rotation gives us two points that make sense to use as intersection points, but it struck me that there could be potential advantages for using arbitrary points for intersection points for longitude, or for disregarding the poles for latitude. Not knowing the names of these I was not able to find any information online.
Is there a name for this difference, or names for the two types? Are there any coordinate systems that use parallel longitudes (or non-parallel latitudes) and what would the implications of this be?
Best Answer
Because the Earth is not a sphere, measuring the latitude from the equator plane is the only way to have circular parallels. Therefore I think that any geographic coordinate system that would not use the equator plane as a reference would have more disadvantages than advantages.
If you need a specific coordinate system, I would therefore rather suggest that you use a projected coordinate system.