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Defining “great circle” gets a bit tricky for an ellipsoid. Geodesics don’t meet back up. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Long_geodesic_on_a
by jacobolus 9y ago
Defining “great circle” gets a bit tricky for an ellipsoid. Geodesics don’t meet back up. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Long_geodesic_on_an_oblate_ellipsoid.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Long_geo...
I guess you can find the “great ellipse” on a slice passing through the center.
- askvictor 9y agoI'm pretty sure that for this purpose, either mapping the earth to a perfect sphere, or using the slice approach (it won't be an ellipse since we're being pedantic) will answer the question.
- jacobolus 9y agoThe latitude/longitude lines in this post were very carefully chosen to just barely knick several countries’ borders and pass over small islands. Differences in the definition of the line certainly will matter for figuring out all of the edge cases here.