International Date Line

E69390

The International Date Line is an imaginary longitudinal line, roughly following the 180th meridian through the Pacific Ocean, where calendar dates change by one day when crossed.


Statements (51)
Predicate Object
instanceOf geographical concept
imaginary line
line of longitude
approximateLongitude 180 degrees
bendsAround Aleutian Islands
Fiji
Kiribati
New Zealand’s territories
category geodesy
geography
timekeeping
crosses Bering Sea
Pacific Ocean
Southern Ocean
deviatesToAvoid landmasses
political borders
deviatesToRespect national timekeeping preferences
followsApproximately 180th meridian
governs direction-dependent date change
hasEffect aligns civil dates with Earth’s rotation
date changes by one day when crossed
maintains global timekeeping consistency
hasFunction calendar date change boundary
date demarcation
hasNoSingleTreaty true
isArbitraryConvention true
isImaginary true
isLegalBoundary false
isOpposite Prime Meridian
isPoliticalBoundary false
isShownOn aviation charts
nautical charts
world maps
isStandardizedBy international convention
locatedIn Earth
Pacific Ocean
referenceSystem Coordinated Universal Time
time zones
relatedTo Coordinated Universal Time
Greenwich Mean Time
Prime Meridian
time zone boundaries
ruleWhenCrossingEastward date goes back by one day
ruleWhenCrossingWestward date advances by one day
separates consecutive calendar dates
today and tomorrow
yesterday and today
usedBy airlines
international travelers
navigators
shipping companies


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