Equator theme park not quite the middle of the world Tourists who visit the popular site in order to stand with a foot either side of the Earth's equator are directed to a monument above a yellow line that supposedly marks the spot. But the recent use of GPS technology has lead to the discovery that the latitude of the line is not 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, as visitors would expect. Instead, the line is actually situated about 240 metres north of the Equator. The park is owned by the Government and is visited by half-a-million tourists a year. One explanation offered by park officials is that the Equator monument, built in 1936, was positioned using methods of measuring that are not as accurate as they would be today. The real Middle of the World, according to the New York Times, is found at a small, privately owned site called Inti-ñan. Comparatively under-visited, here there is only a sign on a gate claiming that its location is "calculated with GPS" to be 0 degrees latitude exactly.