180th meridian

Lore & Background

The 180th meridian passes mostly through open Pacific waters but also crosses land in Russia, Fiji, and Antarctica. The International Date Line snakes around national borders to maintain date consistency within the territories of Russia, the United States, Kiribati, Fiji, and New Zealand. The meridian passes between the Aleutian Island chain of US territory, the Gilbert Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, North Island and the Kermadec Islands of New Zealand, and the Bounty Islands and Chatham Islands of New Zealand.

Reader's Guide

The 180th meridian is significant as the basis for the International Date Line, which adjusts date boundaries to avoid splitting countries. It also presents software representation problems: many geographic libraries split the world at this meridian, making tasks like representing areas or lines across it non-trivial. For example, GeoJSON suggests splitting geometries to avoid crossing the antimeridian, OpenStreetMap splits areas like Russia's boundary, and navigation across the meridian is not possible in Google Maps on Taveuni island, Fiji. Only in Fiji and Russia do roads cross this meridian.

Did You Know?

• The 180th meridian is also called the antimeridian.
• It passes through land in Russia, Fiji, and Antarctica.
• Only Fiji and Russia have roads that cross this meridian.
• In Google Maps, navigation is not possible across the 180th meridian on Taveuni island, Fiji.