Haversine Formula in Python (Bearing and Distance between two GPS points)

Question

Problem

I would like to know how to get the distance and bearing between 2 GPS points. I have researched on the haversine formula. Someone told me

Answer 1

The Y in atan2 is, by default, the first parameter. Here is the documentation. You will need to switch your inputs to get the correct bearing angle.

bearing = atan2(sin(lon2-lon1)*cos(lat2), cos(lat1)*sin(lat2)in(lat1)*cos(lat2)*cos(lon2-lon1))
bearing = degrees(bearing)
bearing = (bearing + 360) % 360

Answer 2

The bearing calculation is incorrect, you need to swap the inputs to atan2.

    bearing = atan2(sin(long2-long1)*cos(lat2), cos(lat1)*sin(lat2)-sin(lat1)*cos(lat2)*cos(long2-long1))
    bearing = degrees(bearing)
    bearing = (bearing + 360) % 360

This will give you the correct bearing.

Answer 3

There is also a vectorized implementation, which allows to use 4 numpy arrays instead of scalar values for coordinates:

def distance(s_lat, s_lng, e_lat, e_lng):

   # approximate radius of earth in km
   R = 6373.0

   s_lat = s_lat*np.pi/180.0                      
   s_lng = np.deg2rad(s_lng)     
   e_lat = np.deg2rad(e_lat)                       
   e_lng = np.deg2rad(e_lng)  

   d = np.sin((e_lat - s_lat)/2)**2 + np.cos(s_lat)*np.cos(e_lat) * np.sin((e_lng - s_lng)/2)**2

   return 2 * R * np.arcsin(np.sqrt(d))

Answer 4

Here are two functions to calculate distance and bearing, which are based on the code in previous messages and https://gist.github.com/jeromer/2005586 (added tuple type for geographical points in lat, lon format for both functions for clarity). I tested both functions and they seem to work right.

#coding:UTF-8
from math import radians, cos, sin, asin, sqrt, atan2, degrees

def haversine(pointA, pointB):

    if (type(pointA) != tuple) or (type(pointB) != tuple):
        raise TypeError("Only tuples are supported as arguments")

    lat1 = pointA[0]
    lon1 = pointA[1]

    lat2 = pointB[0]
    lon2 = pointB[1]

    # convert decimal degrees to radians 
    lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2 = map(radians, [lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2]) 

    # haversine formula 
    dlon = lon2 - lon1 
    dlat = lat2 - lat1 
    a = sin(dlat/2)**2 + cos(lat1) * cos(lat2) * sin(dlon/2)**2
    c = 2 * asin(sqrt(a)) 
    r = 6371 # Radius of earth in kilometers. Use 3956 for miles
    return c * r


def initial_bearing(pointA, pointB):

    if (type(pointA) != tuple) or (type(pointB) != tuple):
        raise TypeError("Only tuples are supported as arguments")

    lat1 = radians(pointA[0])
    lat2 = radians(pointB[0])

    diffLong = radians(pointB[1] - pointA[1])

    x = sin(diffLong) * cos(lat2)
    y = cos(lat1) * sin(lat2) - (sin(lat1)
            * cos(lat2) * cos(diffLong))

    initial_bearing = atan2(x, y)

    # Now we have the initial bearing but math.atan2 return values
    # from -180° to + 180° which is not what we want for a compass bearing
    # The solution is to normalize the initial bearing as shown below
    initial_bearing = degrees(initial_bearing)
    compass_bearing = (initial_bearing + 360) % 360

    return compass_bearing

pA = (46.2038,6.1530)
pB = (46.449, 30.690)

print haversine(pA, pB)

print initial_bearing(pA, pB)

Answer 5

Most of these answers are "rounding" the radius of the earth. If you check these against other distance calculators (such as geopy), these functions will be off.

This works well:

from math import radians, cos, sin, asin, sqrt

def haversine(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):

      R = 3959.87433 # this is in miles.  For Earth radius in kilometers use 6372.8 km

      dLat = radians(lat2 - lat1)
      dLon = radians(lon2 - lon1)
      lat1 = radians(lat1)
      lat2 = radians(lat2)

      a = sin(dLat/2)**2 + cos(lat1)*cos(lat2)*sin(dLon/2)**2
      c = 2*asin(sqrt(a))

      return R * c

# Usage
lon1 = -103.548851
lat1 = 32.0004311
lon2 = -103.6041946
lat2 = 33.374939

print(haversine(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2))

Answer 6

Refer to this link :https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/84885/whats-the-difference-between-vincenty-and-great-circle-distance-calculations

this actually gives two ways of getting distance. They are Haversine and Vincentys. From my research I came to know that Vincentys is relatively accurate. Also use import statement to make the implementation.