Final answer:
One degree of latitude is approximately equal to 60 nautical miles, crucial for navigation and determining a location's position north or south of the equator.
Step-by-step explanation:
One degree of latitude is approximately equal to 60 nautical miles. Latitude represents a location's position north or south of the equator, and ranges from 0° at the equator to 90° at both the North and South Poles. This measurement of nautical miles is based on the Earth's circumference and is essential for navigation and geography.
An understanding of latitude and the conversion to nautical miles is valuable in various applications, such as navigating with the stars, sun positioning, and determining absolute locations via the geographic coordinate system.