Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-mwwwr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-23T12:36:39.839Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Great Ellipse on the Surface of the Spheroid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

Roy Williams
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

On any surface which fulfils the required continuity conditions, the shortest path between two points on the surface is along the are of a geodesic curve. On the surface of a sphere the geodesic curves are the great circles and the shortest path between any two points on this surface is along the arc of a great circle, but on the surface of an ellipsoid of revolution, the geodesic curves are not so easily defined except that the equator of this ellipsoid is a circle and its meridians are ellipses.

Keywords

1. Great ellipses2. Geodesy3. Great circles4. Spheroidal sailing

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , May 1996 , pp. 229 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

1Phythian, J. E. and Williams, R. (1985). Cubic spline approximation to an integral function. Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics & Its Applications, 21, 130–131.Google Scholar
2Hairawa, T. (1987). On modification of sailing calculations. This Journal, 40, 138.Google Scholar