They only identify the Reddit user as "kepleronlyknows", but in the Reddit thread [1] he links to his video visualization [2], where his user name is Patrick Anderson.
replyBefore he made the video visualization using Google Earth, he actually went to the library and used a string on a real globe. [3]
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/15mwai/the_longest...
Adding: The two paths respectively are about 80% and 28% of the earth's circumference.
replyThe Portugal to (approximately) Macao one is quite interesting, thanks for the links!
replyKudos to whoever built tiled clouds background on the gcmap site.
replyI opened Apple Maps in globe mode and I still have trouble visualizing the water path.
replyDoes it help to point out that the water path looks suspiciously like the day/night line on a map?
replyLike this: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5477/
yes!! why is that ? :)
replyThe day/light line is a great circle. The "straight line paths" are great-circle segments.
replyIt's going South and then trying to close the loop from behind. It gets interrupted by land before the loop closes.
replyHope it makes sense.
Open the linked paper and scroll down, they have images of the path on a globe as well as the flat map view.
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