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

You can solve the negative bearing problem by adding 360°. Unfortunately, this might result in bearings larger than 360° for positive bearings. This is a good candidate for the modulo operator, so all in all you should add the line

Bearing = (Bearing + 360) % 360

at the end of your method.

Answer 2

Here's a numpy vectorized implementation of the Haversine Formula given by @Michael Dunn, gives a 10-50 times improvement over large vectors.

from numpy import radians, cos, sin, arcsin, sqrt

def haversine(lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2):
    """
    Calculate the great circle distance between two points 
    on the earth (specified in decimal degrees)
    """

    #Convert decimal degrees to Radians:
    lon1 = np.radians(lon1.values)
    lat1 = np.radians(lat1.values)
    lon2 = np.radians(lon2.values)
    lat2 = np.radians(lat2.values)

    #Implementing Haversine Formula: 
    dlon = np.subtract(lon2, lon1)
    dlat = np.subtract(lat2, lat1)

    a = np.add(np.power(np.sin(np.divide(dlat, 2)), 2),  
                          np.multiply(np.cos(lat1), 
                                      np.multiply(np.cos(lat2), 
                                                  np.power(np.sin(np.divide(dlon, 2)), 2))))
    c = np.multiply(2, np.arcsin(np.sqrt(a)))
    r = 6371

    return c*r

Answer 3

Here's a Python version:

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

def haversine(lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2):
    """
    Calculate the great circle distance between two points 
    on the earth (specified in decimal degrees)
    """
    # convert decimal degrees to radians 
    lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2 = map(radians, [lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2])

    # 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

Answer 4

You can try the following:

from haversine import haversine
haversine((45.7597, 4.8422),(48.8567, 2.3508), unit='mi')
243.71209416020253