The Great circle navigations, also known as great-circle paths, are the shortest paths between two points on the surface of a sphere, such as Earth. Unlike like the tracks followed by a compass, also known as rhumbs, great circle tracks are curves that represent the shortest path between two locations on Earth, following the line of shortest distance on the spherical surface.

These routes are especially relevant in long-distance air and sea navigation, as well as in the planning of flights and navigation routes. Since the Earth is spherical, great circle routes are useful for minimizing the distance, and therefore travel time, between two points.

In practice, great circle paths can appear strangely curved on flat maps, like the maps we commonly use in our mobile devices, due to the deformation involved in projecting a sphere onto a plane. For this reason, airlines and boaters may adjust routes to make them more comfortable to follow in reality or to avoid areas of bad weather, air traffic restrictions, or dangerous geographic zones.