This Java program generates geodetic lines at constant distance h from the surface of a prolate ellipsoid with shape parameters R (semimajor radius) and e (ellipticity). These three geometric parameters are by default set to the Earth parameters of the WGS84: h=0 meters, R=6378 thousand kilometers and e=0.006693.

The program actually solves the inverse problem of geodetics: it finds for a given start point (geodetic latitude phi and longitude lambda) and end point (geodetic latitude phi and longitude lambda) the course along a geodetic line that runs through start and end point.

Details of the algorithm are in arXiv:0711.0642.

The source code is Geod.jar which can be launched via GeodGUI.jnlp if your browser supports the Java Network Launch Protocol. The output in each line are the x, y and z Cartesian coordinates of the trajectory, the longitude and geodetic latitude in degrees, the nautical angle in degrees, and the partial length along the trajectory up to the point on the trajectory. Richard J Mathar, Home page