Winter '13 Force.com Platform Release Geolocation Custom Fields

The geolocation custom field allows you to create a field that identifies a location by its latitude and longitude. You can then use the geolocation field with the DISTANCE and GEOLOCATION formula functions to calculate distances between locations. For example, you can calculate the distance between two geolocation fields (such as between the warehouse and the store), or between a geolocation field and any fixed latitude-longitude coordinates (such as between the warehouse and 37.775°, –122.418°, also known as San Francisco).
Geolocation Field Limitations Geolocation is a compound field that counts toward your organization’s limits as three custom fields: one for latitude, one for longitude, and one for internal use. In this beta release, support for the compound field (geolocation) vs. the field’s components (latitude and longitude) varies depending on the functionality you’re using in Salesforce. For example, you can create list views that show the field and its components, but you can’t select the compound geolocation field in Apex; you can only run SOQL queries on a geolocation field’s components.

Other limitations of this geolocation beta release include:

1. History tracking is not available for geolocation fields.
2. Geolocation fields are not supported in custom settings.
3. Geolocation fields are not available in reports, dashboards, validation rules, Visual Workflow, or workflow and approvals.
5. Geolocation fields cannot be searched.
6. Geolocation fields are not available in Schema Builder.
7. DISTANCE and GEOLOCATION formula functions are available only when creating formula fields and in Visual Workflow.
8. Geolocation is supported in Apex only through SOQL queries, and only at the component level.