lat. is the written short form of latitude: how far north or south a place is from the equator, measured in degrees. You meet it on maps, in weather notes, and in lists of coordinates, often next to long. for longitude. People say the full word latitude in speech; lat. belongs to the page, with a full stop in careful British style. A line might read 25° N lat. Meaning is only this: position north or south, not how “late” something is, and not the language Latin, which is sometimes shortened Lat. in a different kind of note. Taiwan sits near 23–25° N; that number is latitude.