What Connect Type describes the path along the great circle?

What Connect Type describes the path along the great circle?

• A. Rhumb Line
• B. Great Circle
• C. Straight Line
• D. Curved Line

Answer: (B)

On a sphere, the shortest route between two points is a great-circle arc. A great circle is the intersection of the sphere with a plane that goes through the sphere’s center, and the portion of that circle between the two points is the minimal surface distance. That’s why the path described along a great circle is the correct connect type—the route follows the geodesic on the sphere, which is the most direct way to connect the points. A rhumb line, by contrast, follows a constant bearing and crosses all meridians at the same angle, which on a sphere typically yields a longer path than the great-circle route. A straight line on a flat map isn’t the true surface path on a sphere (except in cases where the map projection happens to align with a great circle), and “curved line” is too generic to specify the shortest-surface-path behavior.

On a sphere, the shortest route between two points is a great-circle arc. A great circle is the intersection of the sphere with a plane that goes through the sphere’s center, and the portion of that circle between the two points is the minimal surface distance. That’s why the path described along a great circle is the correct connect type—the route follows the geodesic on the sphere, which is the most direct way to connect the points.

A rhumb line, by contrast, follows a constant bearing and crosses all meridians at the same angle, which on a sphere typically yields a longer path than the great-circle route. A straight line on a flat map isn’t the true surface path on a sphere (except in cases where the map projection happens to align with a great circle), and “curved line” is too generic to specify the shortest-surface-path behavior.