Google Maps, iPhone, and the antimeridian

[marvinalone]

I've been writing a bit of mapping code recently, and found that (at least parts of) the Google Maps API doesn't support the antimeridian (i.e., 180 degrees west/east

Comments

[eldan]

Ha! Thanks for pointing that out - I had no idea, but a little experimentation persuaded me that this would be a significant annoyance if I lived in Fiji.

[eldan]

In fact, I just noticed something else that I'm pretty sure is related: the antimeridian shows up as a gap in the world; e.g. here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fiji&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.462693,74.355469&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Fiji&ll=-16.149225,-179.987383&spn=0.067769,0.072613&t=h&z=14

[marvinalone]

Heh, that's funny. It's like the two high-resolution areas on either side don't quite match up, so there is a small strip of ultra-low resolution imagery in between...

I didn't know you work on maps?

[eldan]

I don't - I'm just a big map nerd, and things like this are on my mind at the moment because Melinda and I went to the Greenwich Royal Observatory a couple of weeks ago, which spurred this big discussion about the significance of entirely arbitrary lines on a map.