In this article, we will explore the topic of 180th meridian from different perspectives, analyzing its impact on society and its relevance today. Over the next few lines, we will examine its evolution over time, its implications in different areas and how it has influenced the way we relate to the world around us. 180th meridian is a topic that has sparked the interest and curiosity of many, and as we progress through this article, we hope to provide a deeper understanding of its importance and meaning in our current reality.
On Earth, the prime and 180th meridians form a great ellipse that divides the planet into the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. The antimeridian passes mostly through the open waters of the Pacific Ocean but also runs across land in Russia, Fiji, and Antarctica. An important function of this meridian is its use as the basis for the International Date Line, which snakes around national borders to maintain date consistency within the territories of Russia, the United States, Kiribati, Fiji and New Zealand.
Starting at the North Pole of the Earth and heading south to the South Pole, the 180th meridian passes through:
The only places where roads cross this meridian are in Fiji and Russia. Fiji has several such roads and some buildings very close to it. Russia has three roads in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Software representation problems
Many geographic software libraries or data formats project the world to a rectangle; very often this rectangle is split exactly at the 180th meridian. This often makes it non-trivial to do simple tasks (like representing an area, or a line) over the 180th meridian. Some examples:
The GeoJSON specification strongly suggests splitting geometries so that neither of their parts cross the antimeridian.[2]
In OpenStreetMap, areas (like the boundary of Russia) are split at the 180th meridian.
QGIS may present lines and polygons in a wrapped way if they cross the 180 meridian.