Every type that defines the nearest approach distance against a spatiotemporal box states it in version 1.4 by the function nearestApproachDistance and the operator |=|. In version 1.3 the types cbuffer and pose stated it instead by the function distance and the operator <->, where geometry and geography already used the former. The signatures concerned are (cbuffer, stbox), (stbox, cbuffer), (pose, stbox), and (stbox, pose).

The two functions answer different questions, which is what the change states. A spatiotemporal box carries a period, so nearestApproachDistance answers the least distance over the time that its two arguments share, and answers the null value when they share none. The function distance measures its two arguments as sets of points and reads no period. The signatures of distance whose arguments carry no period keep the name.