What is a great circle, a loxodrome or a geodesic? What are the differences between them and which one is more suitable for each GIS application? This talk addresses this kind of questions and how geography is implemented in Boost.Geometry. The library that is currently being used to provide GIS support to MySQL.

Following up the introductory talk on Boost.Geometry we discuss the algorithmic, the implementation as well as the user perspective of the development of geography in Boost.Geometry. We define basic geometric objects such as geodesics, and the modeling of the Earth as a sphere or ellipsoid. We try to understand the effect of different Earth models to the accuracy and speed of fundamental geometric algorithms (such as length, area, intersection etc.) by showing particular examples. Finally, we are having a look towards the future of geography in Boost.Geometry.

Comment: This is an entry-level talk on subjects of GIS, geometric algorithms and Boost.Geometry. Attending the introductory talk on Boost.Geometry will help the audience to have a more detailed understanding of the Boost.Geometry development but it is not considered as a prerequisite.