Calculate distance between 2 GPS coordinates

Question

How do I calculate distance between two GPS coordinates (using latitude and longitude)?

Answer 1

Java Version of Haversine Algorithm based on Roman Makarov`s reply to this thread

public class HaversineAlgorithm {

    static final double _eQuatorialEarthRadius = 6378.1370D;
    static final double _d2r = (Math.PI / 180D);

    public static int HaversineInM(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2) {
        return (int) (1000D * HaversineInKM(lat1, long1, lat2, long2));
    }

    public static double HaversineInKM(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2) {
        double dlong = (long2 - long1) * _d2r;
        double dlat = (lat2 - lat1) * _d2r;
        double a = Math.pow(Math.sin(dlat / 2D), 2D) + Math.cos(lat1 * _d2r) * Math.cos(lat2 * _d2r)
                * Math.pow(Math.sin(dlong / 2D), 2D);
        double c = 2D * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1D - a));
        double d = _eQuatorialEarthRadius * c;

        return d;
    }

}

Answer 2

This Lua code is adapted from stuff found on Wikipedia and in Robert Lipe's GPSbabel tool:

local EARTH_RAD = 6378137.0 
  -- earth's radius in meters (official geoid datum, not 20,000km / pi)

local radmiles = EARTH_RAD*100.0/2.54/12.0/5280.0;
  -- earth's radius in miles

local multipliers = {
  radians = 1, miles = radmiles, mi = radmiles, feet = radmiles * 5280,
  meters = EARTH_RAD, m = EARTH_RAD, km = EARTH_RAD / 1000, 
  degrees = 360 / (2 * math.pi), min = 60 * 360 / (2 * math.pi)
}

function gcdist(pt1, pt2, units) -- return distance in radians or given units
  --- this formula works best for points close together or antipodal
  --- rounding error strikes when distance is one-quarter Earth's circumference
  --- (ref: wikipedia Great-circle distance)
  if not pt1.radians then pt1 = rad(pt1) end
  if not pt2.radians then pt2 = rad(pt2) end
  local sdlat = sin((pt1.lat - pt2.lat) / 2.0);
  local sdlon = sin((pt1.lon - pt2.lon) / 2.0);
  local res = sqrt(sdlat * sdlat + cos(pt1.lat) * cos(pt2.lat) * sdlon * sdlon);
  res = res > 1 and 1 or res < -1 and -1 or res
  res = 2 * asin(res);
  if units then return res * assert(multipliers[units])
  else return res
  end
end

Answer 3

Look for haversine with Google; here is my solution:

#include <math.h>
#include "haversine.h"

#define d2r (M_PI / 180.0)

//calculate haversine distance for linear distance
double haversine_km(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2)
{
    double dlong = (long2 - long1) * d2r;
    double dlat = (lat2 - lat1) * d2r;
    double a = pow(sin(dlat/2.0), 2) + cos(lat1*d2r) * cos(lat2*d2r) * pow(sin(dlong/2.0), 2);
    double c = 2 * atan2(sqrt(a), sqrt(1-a));
    double d = 6367 * c;

    return d;
}

double haversine_mi(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2)
{
    double dlong = (long2 - long1) * d2r;
    double dlat = (lat2 - lat1) * d2r;
    double a = pow(sin(dlat/2.0), 2) + cos(lat1*d2r) * cos(lat2*d2r) * pow(sin(dlong/2.0), 2);
    double c = 2 * atan2(sqrt(a), sqrt(1-a));
    double d = 3956 * c; 

    return d;
}

Answer 4

Here's my implementation in Elixir

defmodule Geo do
  @earth_radius_km 6371
  @earth_radius_sm 3958.748
  @earth_radius_nm 3440.065
  @feet_per_sm 5280

  @d2r :math.pi / 180

  def deg_to_rad(deg), do: deg * @d2r

  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :km), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_km
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :sm), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_sm
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :nm), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_nm
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :m), do: great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :km) * 1000
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :ft), do: great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :sm) * @feet_per_sm

  @doc """
  Calculate the [Haversine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haversine_formula)
  distance between two coordinates. Result is in radians. This result can be
  multiplied by the sphere's radius in any unit to get the distance in that unit.
  For example, multiple the result of this function by the Earth's radius in
  kilometres and you get the distance between the two given points in kilometres.
  """
  def haversine({lat1, lon1}, {lat2, lon2}) do
    dlat = deg_to_rad(lat2 - lat1)
    dlon = deg_to_rad(lon2 - lon1)

    radlat1 = deg_to_rad(lat1)
    radlat2 = deg_to_rad(lat2)

    a = :math.pow(:math.sin(dlat / 2), 2) +
        :math.pow(:math.sin(dlon / 2), 2) *
        :math.cos(radlat1) * :math.cos(radlat2)

    2 * :math.atan2(:math.sqrt(a), :math.sqrt(1 - a))
  end
end

Answer 5

I recently had to do the same thing. I found this website to be very helpful explaining spherical trig with examples that were easy to follow along with.