Proceedings of the 17th International Cartographic Association Conference, Barcelona, Spain, September 1995. DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM PATH ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE (extended abstract) Marinos Kavouras Emmanuel Stefanakis Department of Rural and Surveying Engineering National Technical University of Athens Zographou, Athens, GREECE 15773 e-mail: mkav@theseas.ntua.gr Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering National Technical University of Athens Zographou, Athens, GREECE 15773 e-mail: stefanak@theseas.ntua.gr Abstract Various algorithms have been proposed for the determination of the optimum paths in linear networks. Moving on a surface is a far more complex problem, where research has been scarce. An example would be the determination of the shortest sea course between two given ports. This paper presents a solution to the problem, which can be easily applied to a variety of surfaces, while considering different travel cost models. The applicability of the solution to representative surfaces is examined.