Why is it shorter to travel a #great #circle route than a straight line route? Why is it shorter to travel a #great #circle? As you will see, the great circle route is the closest you can get to a straight line route on the globe. What looks to you like a straight line route on a map really is not straight at all. Depending on how far apart two places are, the straight line between them will pass through some part of the Earth, and with the exception of relatively short tunnels will be completely impossible to travel. All flat maps are seriously distorted in some ways; you cannot project the surface of a globe onto a flat surface without compromising some detail. What looks like a straight route across your Mercator Projection will usually be longer than necessary, but see discussion. Countless great circle routes will look like straight lines, even on Mercator Projections. Putting the following ideas together will clarify what makes the great circle route the shortest possible surface or air route between two points on earth.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:44:21 +0000
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