Whitch is right :spherical area or cartesian area

Question

I am asking a theoretical question here. I was comparing the areas calculated by MapInfo with the ones calculated by ArcGIS and I always add differences. When Googling that, I ended-up to that link explaining the differences : Area calculation MapInfo/FME. Basically, the default method for MapInfo uses spherical while the defaut method for ArcGIS is cartesian. When I changed the default parameter of both GIS, I ended-up having the results of the other GIS, so both are correct.

But now, whitch result is better or I'd rather say « righter », spherical or cartesian?

Thanks

Answer 1

In simple terms, spherical area takes account of the curvature of the surface of the earth whereas cartesian measurements are calculated as if the objects were on a flat plane. Generally speaking this means that spherical measurements should be more accurate.