<p>As some comments suggest, nothing substitutes for a globe and a tape measure. But there is a subtle hint of the outcome.</p>
<p>Australia is southeast of Sweden according to latitudes and longitudes, but that means little on a spherical Earth. The latitude of Mecca is south of Chicago's, but mosques in the latter city are built to facilitate the Muslim patrons facing <em>north</em>-east, along the Great Circle route which (in the Northern Hemisphere) deviates north from the compass direction.</p>
<p>In the case of Sweden, that country is so far north that the &quot;northern deviation&quot; of Great Circle routes to distant lands around the Pacific Ocean carries that route near the North Pole itself. Then we may well expect northern Sweden, being closer to the North Pole, to be closer to those far-off destinations.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-21T23:57:10.373Z
2023-09-21T23:57:10.373Z
Oscar Lanzi
<p>For reasons unknown, I started pondering what cities/towns in Sweden and Australia are the closest to each other. My hunch was that some town in the South such as Malmö or Karlskrona would be closest to some town in the North(west) of Australia such as Broome.</p>
<p>Exploring the matter using <a href="https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=PJA-DRW%2C%20PER-MMX%2C%20BME-ARN%2C%20DRW-ARN%2C%20VBY-DRW" rel="nofollow noreferrer">greatcirclemap.com</a> told me a different story - the closest town (airport) I could find was Pajala in the very North(east), which is closer to Darwin in the middle of the Australian North than to towns like Broome in the Northwest or Perth in the far West.</p>
<p>Is there a simple, intuitive explanation for this fact? What is a good way to make educated guesses about great circle distances? How can Pajala be closer to Australia than Malmö, being about 1350 kilometers farther north but only 350 kilometers farther east?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-11T15:56:35.213Z
maybe you can make a few circles around the antipodal point on a globe,here is a site that might be helpful https://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-12T10:18:54.593Z
Who are you trying to explain this to?
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-12T11:50:21.863Z
@Spencer myself!
Toivo Säwén
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-21T09:19:44.063Z
The website you linked features viewing the distances on a globe, which makes the results appear logical.
hschoell
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-21T09:25:37.817Z
@hschoell didn't see that feature, really helps!
Toivo Säwén
<geodesy>
Is there a way to intuitively explain that the North of Sweden is closer to Australia than the South?
Toivo Säwén
# Is there a way to intuitively explain that the North of Sweden is closer to Australia than the South?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-11)

For reasons unknown, I started pondering what cities/towns in Sweden and Australia are the closest to each other. My hunch was that some town in the South such as Malmö or Karlskrona would be closest to some town in the North(west) of Australia such as Broome.

Exploring the matter using [greatcirclemap.com](https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=PJA-DRW%2C%20PER-MMX%2C%20BME-ARN%2C%20DRW-ARN%2C%20VBY-DRW) told me a different story - the closest town (airport) I could find was Pajala in the very North(east), which is closer to Darwin in the middle of the Australian North than to towns like Broome in the Northwest or Perth in the far West.

Is there a simple, intuitive explanation for this fact? What is a good way to make educated guesses about great circle distances? How can Pajala be closer to Australia than Malmö, being about 1350 kilometers farther north but only 350 kilometers farther east?

**Tags:** geodesy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: maybe you can make a few circles around the antipodal point on a globe,here is a site that might be helpful https://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm  
> **username_2**: Who are you trying to explain this to?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 myself!  
> **username_3**: The website you linked features viewing the distances on a globe, which makes the results appear logical.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 didn't see that feature, really helps!  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-09-21. Score: 2

As some comments suggest, nothing substitutes for a globe and a tape measure. But there is a subtle hint of the outcome.

Australia is southeast of Sweden according to latitudes and longitudes, but that means little on a spherical Earth. The latitude of Mecca is south of Chicago's, but mosques in the latter city are built to facilitate the Muslim patrons facing *north*-east, along the Great Circle route which (in the Northern Hemisphere) deviates north from the compass direction.

In the case of Sweden, that country is so far north that the "northern deviation" of Great Circle routes to distant lands around the Pacific Ocean carries that route near the North Pole itself. Then we may well expect northern Sweden, being closer to the North Pole, to be closer to those far-off destinations.


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