Google Maps, iPhone, and the antimeridian
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).
When you ask the geocoding API to give you the coordinates for a place, it also gives you a region. So when you search for, say, "Seattle", you get the exact location of downtown, but also a bounding box that contains the greater Seattle area. However, when you search for a place on the antimeridian, like Wrangel Island or Fiji, you get an impossibly small bounding box that makes sure not to cross 180 degrees.
The iPhone Maps interface goes one step further: It will never show you a map that contains the antimeridian. I can't believe that I have owned an iPhone for over a year, and I never noticed that.
I suppose the prudent thing to do would be to test Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Mapquest, etc., but it's really more of a curiosity than a limitation.
When you ask the geocoding API to give you the coordinates for a place, it also gives you a region. So when you search for, say, "Seattle", you get the exact location of downtown, but also a bounding box that contains the greater Seattle area. However, when you search for a place on the antimeridian, like Wrangel Island or Fiji, you get an impossibly small bounding box that makes sure not to cross 180 degrees.
The iPhone Maps interface goes one step further: It will never show you a map that contains the antimeridian. I can't believe that I have owned an iPhone for over a year, and I never noticed that.
I suppose the prudent thing to do would be to test Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Mapquest, etc., but it's really more of a curiosity than a limitation.