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The longest straight lines you can sail or walk before hitting the shore

What’s the longest straight-line route over land or water, uninterrupted by a shoreline? It’s a question that gets complicated as soon as you recall that map projections are lies: no matter how straight you think you’re going, you’re always walking in circles. Computer scientists have answers.

The longest straight-line path over water begins in Sonmiani, Balochistan, Pakistan, passes between Africa and Madagascar and then between Antarctica and Tierra del Fuego in South America, and ends in the Karaginsky District, Kamchatka Krai, in Russia. It is 32,089.7 kilometers long.

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