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Great-circle navigation or orthodromic navigation (related to orthodromic course; from Ancient Greek ορθός (orthós) 'right angle' and δρόμος (drómos) 'path') is the practice of navigating a vessel (a ship or aircraft) along a great circle. Such routes yield the shortest distance between two points on the globe. [1]
Pilots use aeronautical charts based on LCC because a straight line drawn on a Lambert conformal conic projection approximates a great-circle route between endpoints for typical flight distances. The US systems of VFR ( visual flight rules ) sectional charts and terminal area charts are drafted on the LCC with standard parallels at 33°N and 45°N.
A diagram illustrating great-circle distance (drawn in red) between two points on a sphere, P and Q. Two antipodal points, u and v are also shown. The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path ...
With the circumference of the Earth being approximately 40,000 km (24,855 mi), the maximum distance that can be displayed on an azimuthal equidistant projection map is half the circumference, or about 20,000 km (12,427 mi). For distances less than 10,000 km (6,214 mi) distortions are minimal.
The shortest distance between two geographical points is the great-circle distance. In the example (right), the aircraft travelling westward from North America to Japan is following a great-circle route extending northward towards the Arctic region. The apparent curve of the route is a result of distortion when plotted onto a conventional map ...
Airline routes between San Francisco and Tokyo approximately follow a direct great circle route (top), but use the jet stream (bottom) when heading eastward (Tokyo to San Francisco) Items portrayed in this file
High Street Kensington station on the Inner Circle line in London, the world's first circle line. A circle route (also circumference, loop, ring route, ring line or orbital line) is a public transport route following a path approximating a circle or at least a closed curve. Line 10 of the Beijing Subway, the world's second longest circular ...
The map on the right shows, in red, a typical, non-competitive, route for a sailing circumnavigation of the world by the trade winds and the Suez and Panama canals; overlaid in yellow are the points antipodal to all points on the route. It can be seen that the route roughly approximates a great circle, and passes through two pairs of antipodal ...