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geographic point

geographic point

3.5
A specific place on Earth shown by coordinates like latitude and longitude
  • noun
  • /ˌdʒiəˈɡræfɪk pɔɪnt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : punto geográfico
  • Scientists collected data from various geographic points around the globe to study climate change.

Examples

  • Using ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 software (ESRI, Inc., Redlands, CA), we randomly selected 20 geographic points from each of 38 contiguous townships in the study county (Figure 1).

    Academic text (2015)
  • Surely this is the geographic point that Aaron Renn misses.

    Blog text (6)
  • The ancient city of Machu Picchu is a famous geographic point in Peru, attracting millions of tourists each year.

  • To accurately locate a geographic point, you need to know both its latitude and longitude.

Synonyms

place
vsgeographic point
1.0

A particular area where something is or should be

is smaller and exact, defined by coordinates not by area
location
vsgeographic point
1.0

A particular place where someone or something is

is more exact and defined by coordinates rather than general positioning
geographical point
vsgeographic point
1 3.9

A precise place on the Earth shown on a map by coordinates

is identical in meaning but emphasises coordinate definition like latitude and longitude

How Precise

geographic point
  • Specialized
3.5
location
1.0
site
1.2
area
1.0
region
977 2.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

geographic + point

The meaning 'a specific location on the surface of the Earth' is directly and compositionally derived from 'geographic' (relating to the Earth) + 'point' (a specific position). This noun–noun combination follows common English compounding patterns and cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The term geographic point comes from mapmaking: mapmakers would mark a tiny dot or point on a map to show one exact place on the Earth. That's why it now means 'a specific location on the Earth' that can be given numbers like latitude and longitude.