Editing Latitude (section)

===Spherical polar coordinates===

[[File:Geocentric coords 02.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.9| Geocentric coordinate related to spherical polar coordinates {{math|P(''r'',''θ''′,''λ'')}}]]
The geocentric latitude {{mvar|θ}} is the complement of the ''polar angle'' or ''[[colatitude]]'' {{mvar|θ′}} in conventional [[spherical polar coordinates]] in which the coordinates of a point are {{math|P(''r'',''θ''′,''λ'')}} where {{mvar|r}} is the distance of {{math|P}} from the centre {{math|O}}, {{mvar|θ′}} is the angle between the radius vector and the polar axis and {{mvar|λ}} is longitude. Since the normal at a general point on the ellipsoid does not pass through the centre it is clear that points {{math|P'}} on the normal, which all have the same geodetic latitude, will have differing geocentric latitudes. Spherical polar coordinate systems are used in the analysis of the gravity field.