Question

Why are minutes and seconds important to finding the absolute location of a place?

Answer 1

Answer: They tell exactly where a place is between lines of latitude or longitude.
Minutes and seconds are smaller, more exact measurements than degrees, which are the basic units of latitude and longitude. They can be compared to feet and yards vs. miles. Using a smaller unit of measurement helps to describe the exact geographic position, whereas simply giving the position in degrees gives a more general description of the location.