How do I calculate the distance between two points specified by latitude and longitude?
For clarification, I'd like the distance in kilometers; the points use the WGS84 system and I'd like to understand the relative accuracies of the approaches available.
This link might be helpful to you, as it details the use of the Haversine formula to calculate the distance.
Excerpt:
This script [in Javascript] calculates great-circle distances between the two points –
that is, the shortest distance over the earth’s surface – using the
‘Haversine’ formula.
function getDistanceFromLatLonInKm(lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2) {
var R = 6371; // Radius of the earth in km
var dLat = deg2rad(lat2-lat1); // deg2rad below
var dLon = deg2rad(lon2-lon1);
var a =
Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) +
Math.cos(deg2rad(lat1)) * Math.cos(deg2rad(lat2)) *
Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.sin(dLon/2)
;
var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
var d = R * c; // Distance in km
return d;
}
function deg2rad(deg) {
return deg * (Math.PI/180)
}
I needed to calculate a lot of distances between the points for my project, so I went ahead and tried to optimize the code, I have found here. On average in different browsers my new implementation runs 2 times faster than the most upvoted answer.
function distance(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
var p = 0.017453292519943295; // Math.PI / 180
var c = Math.cos;
var a = 0.5 - c((lat2 - lat1) * p)/2 +
c(lat1 * p) * c(lat2 * p) *
(1 - c((lon2 - lon1) * p))/2;
return 12742 * Math.asin(Math.sqrt(a)); // 2 * R; R = 6371 km
}
You can play with my jsPerf and see the results here.
Recently I needed to do the same in python, so here is a python implementation:
from math import cos, asin, sqrt, pi
def distance(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):
p = pi/180
a = 0.5 - cos((lat2-lat1)*p)/2 + cos(lat1*p) * cos(lat2*p) * (1-cos((lon2-lon1)*p))/2
return 12742 * asin(sqrt(a)) #2*R*asin...
And for the sake of completeness: Haversine on Wikipedia.
Here is a C# Implementation:
static class DistanceAlgorithm
{
const double PIx = 3.141592653589793;
const double RADIUS = 6378.16;
/// <summary>
/// Convert degrees to Radians
/// </summary>
/// <param name="x">Degrees</param>
/// <returns>The equivalent in radians</returns>
public static double Radians(double x)
{
return x * PIx / 180;
}
/// <summary>
/// Calculate the distance between two places.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="lon1"></param>
/// <param name="lat1"></param>
/// <param name="lon2"></param>
/// <param name="lat2"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static double DistanceBetweenPlaces(
double lon1,
double lat1,
double lon2,
double lat2)
{
double dlon = Radians(lon2 - lon1);
double dlat = Radians(lat2 - lat1);
double a = (Math.Sin(dlat / 2) * Math.Sin(dlat / 2)) + Math.Cos(Radians(lat1)) * Math.Cos(Radians(lat2)) * (Math.Sin(dlon / 2) * Math.Sin(dlon / 2));
double angle = 2 * Math.Atan2(Math.Sqrt(a), Math.Sqrt(1 - a));
return angle * RADIUS;
}
}
Here is a java implementation of the Haversine formula.
public final static double AVERAGE_RADIUS_OF_EARTH_KM = 6371;
public int calculateDistanceInKilometer(double userLat, double userLng,
double venueLat, double venueLng) {
double latDistance = Math.toRadians(userLat - venueLat);
double lngDistance = Math.toRadians(userLng - venueLng);
double a = Math.sin(latDistance / 2) * Math.sin(latDistance / 2)
+ Math.cos(Math.toRadians(userLat)) * Math.cos(Math.toRadians(venueLat))
* Math.sin(lngDistance / 2) * Math.sin(lngDistance / 2);
double c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1 - a));
return (int) (Math.round(AVERAGE_RADIUS_OF_EARTH_KM * c));
}
Note that here we are rounding the answer to the nearest km.
Thanks very much for all this. I used the following code in my Objective-C iPhone app:
const double PIx = 3.141592653589793;
const double RADIO = 6371; // Mean radius of Earth in Km
double convertToRadians(double val) {
return val * PIx / 180;
}
-(double)kilometresBetweenPlace1:(CLLocationCoordinate2D) place1 andPlace2:(CLLocationCoordinate2D) place2 {
double dlon = convertToRadians(place2.longitude - place1.longitude);
double dlat = convertToRadians(place2.latitude - place1.latitude);
double a = ( pow(sin(dlat / 2), 2) + cos(convertToRadians(place1.latitude))) * cos(convertToRadians(place2.latitude)) * pow(sin(dlon / 2), 2);
double angle = 2 * asin(sqrt(a));
return angle * RADIO;
}
Latitude and Longitude are in decimal. I didn't use min() for the asin() call as the distances that I'm using are so small that they don't require it.
It gave incorrect answers until I passed in the values in Radians - now it's pretty much the same as the values obtained from Apple's Map app :-)
Extra update:
If you are using iOS4 or later then Apple provide some methods to do this so the same functionality would be achieved with:
-(double)kilometresBetweenPlace1:(CLLocationCoordinate2D) place1 andPlace2:(CLLocationCoordinate2D) place2 {
MKMapPoint start, finish;
start = MKMapPointForCoordinate(place1);
finish = MKMapPointForCoordinate(place2);
return MKMetersBetweenMapPoints(start, finish) / 1000;
}
This is a simple PHP function that will give a very reasonable approximation (under +/-1% error margin).
<?php
function distance($lat1, $lon1, $lat2, $lon2) {
$pi80 = M_PI / 180;
$lat1 *= $pi80;
$lon1 *= $pi80;
$lat2 *= $pi80;
$lon2 *= $pi80;
$r = 6372.797; // mean radius of Earth in km
$dlat = $lat2 - $lat1;
$dlon = $lon2 - $lon1;
$a = sin($dlat / 2) * sin($dlat / 2) + cos($lat1) * cos($lat2) * sin($dlon / 2) * sin($dlon / 2);
$c = 2 * atan2(sqrt($a), sqrt(1 - $a));
$km = $r * $c;
//echo '<br/>'.$km;
return $km;
}
?>
As said before; the earth is NOT a sphere. It is like an old, old baseball that Mark McGwire decided to practice with - it is full of dents and bumps. The simpler calculations (like this) treat it like a sphere.
Different methods may be more or less precise according to where you are on this irregular ovoid AND how far apart your points are (the closer they are the smaller the absolute error margin). The more precise your expectation, the more complex the math.
For more info: wikipedia geographic distance
I post here my working example.
List all points in table having distance between a designated point (we use a random point - lat:45.20327, long:23.7806) less than 50 KM, with latitude & longitude, in MySQL (the table fields are coord_lat and coord_long):
List all having DISTANCE<50, in Kilometres (considered Earth radius 6371 KM):
SELECT denumire, (6371 * acos( cos( radians(45.20327) ) * cos( radians( coord_lat ) ) * cos( radians( 23.7806 ) - radians(coord_long) ) + sin( radians(45.20327) ) * sin( radians(coord_lat) ) )) AS distanta
FROM obiective
WHERE coord_lat<>''
AND coord_long<>''
HAVING distanta<50
ORDER BY distanta desc
The above example was tested in MySQL 5.0.95 and 5.5.16 (Linux).
In the other answers an implementation in r is missing.
Calculating the distance between two point is quite straightforward with the distm function from the geosphere package:
distm(p1, p2, fun = distHaversine)
where:
p1 = longitude/latitude for point(s)
p2 = longitude/latitude for point(s)
# type of distance calculation
fun = distCosine / distHaversine / distVincentySphere / distVincentyEllipsoid
As the earth is not perfectly spherical, the Vincenty formula for ellipsoids is probably the best way to calculate distances. Thus in the geosphere package you use then:
distm(p1, p2, fun = distVincentyEllipsoid)
Off course you don't necessarily have to use geosphere package, you can also calculate the distance in base R with a function:
hav.dist <- function(long1, lat1, long2, lat2) {
R <- 6371
diff.long <- (long2 - long1)
diff.lat <- (lat2 - lat1)
a <- sin(diff.lat/2)^2 + cos(lat1) * cos(lat2) * sin(diff.long/2)^2
b <- 2 * asin(pmin(1, sqrt(a)))
d = R * b
return(d)
}
The haversine is definitely a good formula for probably most cases, other answers already include it so I am not going to take the space. But it is important to note that no matter what formula is used (yes not just one). Because of the huge range of accuracy possible as well as the computation time required. The choice of formula requires a bit more thought than a simple no brainer answer.
This posting from a person at nasa, is the best one I found at discussing the options
http://www.cs.nyu.edu/visual/home/proj/tiger/gisfaq.html
For example, if you are just sorting rows by distance in a 100 miles radius. The flat earth formula will be much faster than the haversine.
HalfPi = 1.5707963;
R = 3956; /* the radius gives you the measurement unit*/
a = HalfPi - latoriginrad;
b = HalfPi - latdestrad;
u = a * a + b * b;
v = - 2 * a * b * cos(longdestrad - longoriginrad);
c = sqrt(abs(u + v));
return R * c;
Notice there is just one cosine and one square root. Vs 9 of them on the Haversine formula.
There could be a simpler solution, and more correct: The perimeter of earth is 40,000Km at the equator, about 37,000 on Greenwich (or any longitude) cycle. Thus:
pythagoras = function (lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
function sqr(x) {return x * x;}
function cosDeg(x) {return Math.cos(x * Math.PI / 180.0);}
var earthCyclePerimeter = 40000000.0 * cosDeg((lat1 + lat2) / 2.0);
var dx = (lon1 - lon2) * earthCyclePerimeter / 360.0;
var dy = 37000000.0 * (lat1 - lat2) / 360.0;
return Math.sqrt(sqr(dx) + sqr(dy));
};
I agree that it should be fine-tuned as, I myself said that it's an ellipsoid, so the radius to be multiplied by the cosine varies. But it's a bit more accurate. Compared with Google Maps and it did reduce the error significantly.
pip install haversine
Python implementation
Origin is the center of the contiguous United States.
from haversine import haversine, Unit
origin = (39.50, 98.35)
paris = (48.8567, 2.3508)
haversine(origin, paris, unit=Unit.MILES)
To get the answer in kilometers simply set unit=Unit.KILOMETERS (that's the default).
There is some errors in the code provided, I've fixed it below.
All the above answers assumes the earth is a sphere. However, a more accurate approximation would be that of an oblate spheroid.
a= 6378.137#equitorial radius in km
b= 6356.752#polar radius in km
def Distance(lat1, lons1, lat2, lons2):
lat1=math.radians(lat1)
lons1=math.radians(lons1)
R1=(((((a**2)*math.cos(lat1))**2)+(((b**2)*math.sin(lat1))**2))/((a*math.cos(lat1))**2+(b*math.sin(lat1))**2))**0.5 #radius of earth at lat1
x1=R1*math.cos(lat1)*math.cos(lons1)
y1=R1*math.cos(lat1)*math.sin(lons1)
z1=R1*math.sin(lat1)
lat2=math.radians(lat2)
lons2=math.radians(lons2)
R2=(((((a**2)*math.cos(lat2))**2)+(((b**2)*math.sin(lat2))**2))/((a*math.cos(lat2))**2+(b*math.sin(lat2))**2))**0.5 #radius of earth at lat2
x2=R2*math.cos(lat2)*math.cos(lons2)
y2=R2*math.cos(lat2)*math.sin(lons2)
z2=R2*math.sin(lat2)
return ((x1-x2)**2+(y1-y2)**2+(z1-z2)**2)**0.5
I don't like adding yet another answer, but the Google maps API v.3 has spherical geometry (and more). After converting your WGS84 to decimal degrees you can do this:
<script src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&libraries=geometry" type="text/javascript"></script>
distance = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(
new google.maps.LatLng(fromLat, fromLng),
new google.maps.LatLng(toLat, toLng));
No word about how accurate Google's calculations are or even what model is used (though it does say "spherical" rather than "geoid". By the way, the "straight line" distance will obviously be different from the distance if one travels on the surface of the earth which is what everyone seems to be presuming.
You can use the build in CLLocationDistance to calculate this:
CLLocation *location1 = [[CLLocation alloc] initWithLatitude:latitude1 longitude:longitude1];
CLLocation *location2 = [[CLLocation alloc] initWithLatitude:latitude2 longitude:longitude2];
[self distanceInMetersFromLocation:location1 toLocation:location2]
- (int)distanceInMetersFromLocation:(CLLocation*)location1 toLocation:(CLLocation*)location2 {
CLLocationDistance distanceInMeters = [location1 distanceFromLocation:location2];
return distanceInMeters;
}
In your case if you want kilometers just divide by 1000.
As pointed out, an accurate calculation should take into account that the earth is not a perfect sphere. Here are some comparisons of the various algorithms offered here:
geoDistance(50,5,58,3)
Haversine: 899 km
Maymenn: 833 km
Keerthana: 897 km
google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(): 900 km
geoDistance(50,5,-58,-3)
Haversine: 12030 km
Maymenn: 11135 km
Keerthana: 10310 km
google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(): 12044 km
geoDistance(.05,.005,.058,.003)
Haversine: 0.9169 km
Maymenn: 0.851723 km
Keerthana: 0.917964 km
google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(): 0.917964 km
geoDistance(.05,80,.058,80.3)
Haversine: 33.37 km
Maymenn: 33.34 km
Keerthana: 33.40767 km
google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(): 33.40770 km
Over small distances, Keerthana's algorithm does seem to coincide with that of Google Maps. Google Maps does not seem to follow any simple algorithm, suggesting that it may be the most accurate method here.
Anyway, here is a Javascript implementation of Keerthana's algorithm:
function geoDistance(lat1, lng1, lat2, lng2){
const a = 6378.137; // equitorial radius in km
const b = 6356.752; // polar radius in km
var sq = x => (x*x);
var sqr = x => Math.sqrt(x);
var cos = x => Math.cos(x);
var sin = x => Math.sin(x);
var radius = lat => sqr((sq(a*a*cos(lat))+sq(b*b*sin(lat)))/(sq(a*cos(lat))+sq(b*sin(lat))));
lat1 = lat1 * Math.PI / 180;
lng1 = lng1 * Math.PI / 180;
lat2 = lat2 * Math.PI / 180;
lng2 = lng2 * Math.PI / 180;
var R1 = radius(lat1);
var x1 = R1*cos(lat1)*cos(lng1);
var y1 = R1*cos(lat1)*sin(lng1);
var z1 = R1*sin(lat1);
var R2 = radius(lat2);
var x2 = R2*cos(lat2)*cos(lng2);
var y2 = R2*cos(lat2)*sin(lng2);
var z2 = R2*sin(lat2);
return sqr(sq(x1-x2)+sq(y1-y2)+sq(z1-z2));
}
Here is a typescript implementation of the Haversine formula
static getDistanceFromLatLonInKm(lat1: number, lon1: number, lat2: number, lon2: number): number {
var deg2Rad = deg => {
return deg * Math.PI / 180;
}
var r = 6371; // Radius of the earth in km
var dLat = deg2Rad(lat2 - lat1);
var dLon = deg2Rad(lon2 - lon1);
var a =
Math.sin(dLat / 2) * Math.sin(dLat / 2) +
Math.cos(deg2Rad(lat1)) * Math.cos(deg2Rad(lat2)) *
Math.sin(dLon / 2) * Math.sin(dLon / 2);
var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1 - a));
var d = r * c; // Distance in km
return d;
}
Here is the SQL Implementation to calculate the distance in km,
SELECT UserId, ( 3959 * acos( cos( radians( your latitude here ) ) * cos( radians(latitude) ) *
cos( radians(longitude) - radians( your longitude here ) ) + sin( radians( your latitude here ) ) *
sin( radians(latitude) ) ) ) AS distance FROM user HAVING
distance < 5 ORDER BY distance LIMIT 0 , 5;
For further details in the implementation by programming langugage, you can just go through the php script given here
This script [in PHP] calculates distances between the two points.
public static function getDistanceOfTwoPoints($source, $dest, $unit='K') {
$lat1 = $source[0];
$lon1 = $source[1];
$lat2 = $dest[0];
$lon2 = $dest[1];
$theta = $lon1 - $lon2;
$dist = sin(deg2rad($lat1)) * sin(deg2rad($lat2)) + cos(deg2rad($lat1)) * cos(deg2rad($lat2)) * cos(deg2rad($theta));
$dist = acos($dist);
$dist = rad2deg($dist);
$miles = $dist * 60 * 1.1515;
$unit = strtoupper($unit);
if ($unit == "K") {
return ($miles * 1.609344);
}
else if ($unit == "M")
{
return ($miles * 1.609344 * 1000);
}
else if ($unit == "N") {
return ($miles * 0.8684);
}
else {
return $miles;
}
}
here is an example in postgres sql (in km, for miles version, replace 1.609344 by 0.8684 version)
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.geodistance(alat float, alng float, blat
float, blng float)
RETURNS float AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
v_distance float;
BEGIN
v_distance = asin( sqrt(
sin(radians(blat-alat)/2)^2
+ (
(sin(radians(blng-alng)/2)^2) *
cos(radians(alat)) *
cos(radians(blat))
)
)
) * cast('7926.3352' as float) * cast('1.609344' as float) ;
RETURN v_distance;
END
$BODY$
language plpgsql VOLATILE SECURITY DEFINER;
alter function geodistance(alat float, alng float, blat float, blng float)
owner to postgres;
Java implementation in according Haversine formula
double calculateDistance(double latPoint1, double lngPoint1,
double latPoint2, double lngPoint2) {
if(latPoint1 == latPoint2 && lngPoint1 == lngPoint2) {
return 0d;
}
final double EARTH_RADIUS = 6371.0; //km value;
//converting to radians
latPoint1 = Math.toRadians(latPoint1);
lngPoint1 = Math.toRadians(lngPoint1);
latPoint2 = Math.toRadians(latPoint2);
lngPoint2 = Math.toRadians(lngPoint2);
double distance = Math.pow(Math.sin((latPoint2 - latPoint1) / 2.0), 2)
+ Math.cos(latPoint1) * Math.cos(latPoint2)
* Math.pow(Math.sin((lngPoint2 - lngPoint1) / 2.0), 2);
distance = 2.0 * EARTH_RADIUS * Math.asin(Math.sqrt(distance));
return distance; //km value
}
I made a custom function in R to calculate haversine distance(km) between two spatial points using functions available in R base package.
custom_hav_dist <- function(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
R <- 6371
Radian_factor <- 0.0174533
lat_1 <- (90-lat1)*Radian_factor
lat_2 <- (90-lat2)*Radian_factor
diff_long <-(lon1-lon2)*Radian_factor
distance_in_km <- 6371*acos((cos(lat_1)*cos(lat_2))+
(sin(lat_1)*sin(lat_2)*cos(diff_long)))
rm(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2)
return(distance_in_km)
}
Sample output
custom_hav_dist(50.31,19.08,54.14,19.39)
[1] 426.3987
PS: To calculate distances in miles, substitute R in function (6371) with 3958.756 (and for nautical miles, use 3440.065).
To calculate the distance between two points on a sphere you need to do the Great Circle calculation.
There are a number of C/C++ libraries to help with map projection at MapTools if you need to reproject your distances to a flat surface. To do this you will need the projection string of the various coordinate systems.
You may also find MapWindow a useful tool to visualise the points. Also as its open source its a useful guide to how to use the proj.dll library, which appears to be the core open source projection library.
Here is my java implementation for calculation distance via decimal degrees after some search. I used mean radius of world (from wikipedia) in km. İf you want result miles then use world radius in miles.
public static double distanceLatLong2(double lat1, double lng1, double lat2, double lng2)
{
double earthRadius = 6371.0d; // KM: use mile here if you want mile result
double dLat = toRadian(lat2 - lat1);
double dLng = toRadian(lng2 - lng1);
double a = Math.pow(Math.sin(dLat/2), 2) +
Math.cos(toRadian(lat1)) * Math.cos(toRadian(lat2)) *
Math.pow(Math.sin(dLng/2), 2);
double c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
return earthRadius * c; // returns result kilometers
}
public static double toRadian(double degrees)
{
return (degrees * Math.PI) / 180.0d;
}
Here's the accepted answer implementation ported to Java in case anyone needs it.
package com.project529.garage.util;
/**
* Mean radius.
*/
private static double EARTH_RADIUS = 6371;
/**
* Returns the distance between two sets of latitudes and longitudes in meters.
* <p/>
* Based from the following JavaScript SO answer:
* http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27928/calculate-distance-between-two-latitude-longitude-points-haversine-formula,
* which is based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haversine_formula (error rate: ~0.55%).
*/
public double getDistanceBetween(double lat1, double lon1, double lat2, double lon2) {
double dLat = toRadians(lat2 - lat1);
double dLon = toRadians(lon2 - lon1);
double a = Math.sin(dLat / 2) * Math.sin(dLat / 2) +
Math.cos(toRadians(lat1)) * Math.cos(toRadians(lat2)) *
Math.sin(dLon / 2) * Math.sin(dLon / 2);
double c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1 - a));
double d = EARTH_RADIUS * c;
return d;
}
public double toRadians(double degrees) {
return degrees * (Math.PI / 180);
}
For those looking for an Excel formula based on WGS-84 & GRS-80 standards:
=ACOS(COS(RADIANS(90-Lat1))*COS(RADIANS(90-Lat2))+SIN(RADIANS(90-Lat1))*SIN(RADIANS(90-Lat2))*COS(RADIANS(Long1-Long2)))*6371
Source
there is a good example in here to calculate distance with PHP http://www.geodatasource.com/developers/php :
function distance($lat1, $lon1, $lat2, $lon2, $unit) {
$theta = $lon1 - $lon2;
$dist = sin(deg2rad($lat1)) * sin(deg2rad($lat2)) + cos(deg2rad($lat1)) * cos(deg2rad($lat2)) * cos(deg2rad($theta));
$dist = acos($dist);
$dist = rad2deg($dist);
$miles = $dist * 60 * 1.1515;
$unit = strtoupper($unit);
if ($unit == "K") {
return ($miles * 1.609344);
} else if ($unit == "N") {
return ($miles * 0.8684);
} else {
return $miles;
}
}
Here is the implementation VB.NET, this implementation will give you the result in KM or Miles based on an Enum value you pass.
Public Enum DistanceType
Miles
KiloMeters
End Enum
Public Structure Position
Public Latitude As Double
Public Longitude As Double
End Structure
Public Class Haversine
Public Function Distance(Pos1 As Position,
Pos2 As Position,
DistType As DistanceType) As Double
Dim R As Double = If((DistType = DistanceType.Miles), 3960, 6371)
Dim dLat As Double = Me.toRadian(Pos2.Latitude - Pos1.Latitude)
Dim dLon As Double = Me.toRadian(Pos2.Longitude - Pos1.Longitude)
Dim a As Double = Math.Sin(dLat / 2) * Math.Sin(dLat / 2) + Math.Cos(Me.toRadian(Pos1.Latitude)) * Math.Cos(Me.toRadian(Pos2.Latitude)) * Math.Sin(dLon / 2) * Math.Sin(dLon / 2)
Dim c As Double = 2 * Math.Asin(Math.Min(1, Math.Sqrt(a)))
Dim result As Double = R * c
Return result
End Function
Private Function toRadian(val As Double) As Double
Return (Math.PI / 180) * val
End Function
End Class
I condensed the computation down by simplifying the formula.
Here it is in Ruby:
include Math
earth_radius_mi = 3959
radians = lambda { |deg| deg * PI / 180 }
coord_radians = lambda { |c| { :lat => radians[c[:lat]], :lng => radians[c[:lng]] } }
# from/to = { :lat => (latitude_in_degrees), :lng => (longitude_in_degrees) }
def haversine_distance(from, to)
from, to = coord_radians[from], coord_radians[to]
cosines_product = cos(to[:lat]) * cos(from[:lat]) * cos(from[:lng] - to[:lng])
sines_product = sin(to[:lat]) * sin(from[:lat])
return earth_radius_mi * acos(cosines_product + sines_product)
end
function getDistanceFromLatLonInKm(lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2,units) {
var R = 6371; // Radius of the earth in km
var dLat = deg2rad(lat2-lat1); // deg2rad below
var dLon = deg2rad(lon2-lon1);
var a =
Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) +
Math.cos(deg2rad(lat1)) * Math.cos(deg2rad(lat2)) *
Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.sin(dLon/2)
;
var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
var d = R * c;
var miles = d / 1.609344;
if ( units == 'km' ) {
return d;
} else {
return miles;
}}
Chuck's solution, valid for miles also.
In Mysql use the following function pass the parameters as using POINT(LONG,LAT)
CREATE FUNCTION `distance`(a POINT, b POINT)
RETURNS double
DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
RETURN
GLength( LineString(( PointFromWKB(a)), (PointFromWKB(b)))) * 100000; -- To Make the distance in meters
END;
I have an ellipse, defined by Center Point, radiusX and radiusY, and I have a Point. I want to find the point on the ellipse that is closest to the given point. In the illustration below, that would be S1.
Now I already have code, but there is a logical error somewhere in it, and I seem to be unable to find it. I broke the problem down to the following code example:
#include <vector>
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <math.h>
using namespace std;
void dostuff();
int main()
{
dostuff();
return 0;
}
typedef std::vector<cv::Point> vectorOfCvPoints;
void dostuff()
{
const double ellipseCenterX = 250;
const double ellipseCenterY = 250;
const double ellipseRadiusX = 150;
const double ellipseRadiusY = 100;
vectorOfCvPoints datapoints;
for (int i = 0; i < 360; i+=5)
{
double angle = i / 180.0 * CV_PI;
double x = ellipseRadiusX * cos(angle);
double y = ellipseRadiusY * sin(angle);
x *= 1.4;
y *= 1.4;
x += ellipseCenterX;
y += ellipseCenterY;
datapoints.push_back(cv::Point(x,y));
}
cv::Mat drawing = cv::Mat::zeros( 500, 500, CV_8UC1 );
for (int i = 0; i < datapoints.size(); i++)
{
const cv::Point & curPoint = datapoints[i];
const double curPointX = curPoint.x;
const double curPointY = curPoint.y * -1; //transform from image coordinates to geometric coordinates
double angleToEllipseCenter = atan2(curPointY - ellipseCenterY * -1, curPointX - ellipseCenterX); //ellipseCenterY * -1 for transformation to geometric coords (from image coords)
double nearestEllipseX = ellipseCenterX + ellipseRadiusX * cos(angleToEllipseCenter);
double nearestEllipseY = ellipseCenterY * -1 + ellipseRadiusY * sin(angleToEllipseCenter); //ellipseCenterY * -1 for transformation to geometric coords (from image coords)
cv::Point center(ellipseCenterX, ellipseCenterY);
cv::Size axes(ellipseRadiusX, ellipseRadiusY);
cv::ellipse(drawing, center, axes, 0, 0, 360, cv::Scalar(255));
cv::line(drawing, curPoint, cv::Point(nearestEllipseX,nearestEllipseY*-1), cv::Scalar(180));
}
cv::namedWindow( "ellipse", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
cv::imshow( "ellipse", drawing );
cv::waitKey(0);
}
It produces the following image:
You can see that it actually finds "near" points on the ellipse, but it are not the "nearest" points. What I intentionally want is this: (excuse my poor drawing)
would you extent the lines in the last image, they would cross the center of the ellipse, but this is not the case for the lines in the previous image.
I hope you get the picture. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?
Consider a bounding circle around the given point (c, d), which passes through the nearest point on the ellipse. From the diagram it is clear that the closest point is such that a line drawn from it to the given point must be perpendicular to the shared tangent of the ellipse and circle. Any other points would be outside the circle and so must be further away from the given point.
So the point you are looking for is not the intersection between the line and the ellipse, but the point (x, y) in the diagram.
Gradient of tangent:
Gradient of line:
Condition for perpedicular lines - product of gradients = -1:
When rearranged and substituted into the equation of your ellipse...
...this will give two nasty quartic (4th-degree polynomial) equations in terms of either x or y. AFAIK there are no general analytical (exact algebraic) methods to solve them. You could try an iterative method - look up the Newton-Raphson iterative root-finding algorithm.
Take a look at this very good paper on the subject:
http://www.spaceroots.org/documents/distance/distance-to-ellipse.pdf
Sorry for the incomplete answer - I totally blame the laws of mathematics and nature...
EDIT: oops, i seem to have a and b the wrong way round in the diagram xD
There is a relatively simple numerical method with better convergence than Newtons Method. I have a blog post about why it works http://wet-robots.ghost.io/simple-method-for-distance-to-ellipse/
This implementation works without any trig functions:
def solve(semi_major, semi_minor, p):
px = abs(p[0])
py = abs(p[1])
tx = 0.707
ty = 0.707
a = semi_major
b = semi_minor
for x in range(0, 3):
x = a * tx
y = b * ty
ex = (a*a - b*b) * tx**3 / a
ey = (b*b - a*a) * ty**3 / b
rx = x - ex
ry = y - ey
qx = px - ex
qy = py - ey
r = math.hypot(ry, rx)
q = math.hypot(qy, qx)
tx = min(1, max(0, (qx * r / q + ex) / a))
ty = min(1, max(0, (qy * r / q + ey) / b))
t = math.hypot(ty, tx)
tx /= t
ty /= t
return (math.copysign(a * tx, p[0]), math.copysign(b * ty, p[1]))
Credit to Adrian Stephens for the Trig-Free Optimization.
Here is the code translated to C# implemented from this paper to solve for the ellipse:
http://www.geometrictools.com/Documentation/DistancePointEllipseEllipsoid.pdf
Note that this code is untested - if you find any errors let me know.
//Pseudocode for robustly computing the closest ellipse point and distance to a query point. It
//is required that e0 >= e1 > 0, y0 >= 0, and y1 >= 0.
//e0,e1 = ellipse dimension 0 and 1, where 0 is greater and both are positive.
//y0,y1 = initial point on ellipse axis (center of ellipse is 0,0)
//x0,x1 = intersection point
double GetRoot ( double r0 , double z0 , double z1 , double g )
{
double n0 = r0*z0;
double s0 = z1 - 1;
double s1 = ( g < 0 ? 0 : Math.Sqrt(n0*n0+z1*z1) - 1 ) ;
double s = 0;
for ( int i = 0; i < maxIter; ++i ){
s = ( s0 + s1 ) / 2 ;
if ( s == s0 || s == s1 ) {break; }
double ratio0 = n0 /( s + r0 );
double ratio1 = z1 /( s + 1 );
g = ratio0*ratio0 + ratio1*ratio1 - 1 ;
if (g > 0) {s0 = s;} else if (g < 0) {s1 = s ;} else {break ;}
}
return s;
}
double DistancePointEllipse( double e0 , double e1 , double y0 , double y1 , out double x0 , out double x1)
{
double distance;
if ( y1 > 0){
if ( y0 > 0){
double z0 = y0 / e0;
double z1 = y1 / e1;
double g = z0*z0+z1*z1 - 1;
if ( g != 0){
double r0 = (e0/e1)*(e0/e1);
double sbar = GetRoot(r0 , z0 , z1 , g);
x0 = r0 * y0 /( sbar + r0 );
x1 = y1 /( sbar + 1 );
distance = Math.Sqrt( (x0-y0)*(x0-y0) + (x1-y1)*(x1-y1) );
}else{
x0 = y0;
x1 = y1;
distance = 0;
}
}
else // y0 == 0
x0 = 0 ; x1 = e1 ; distance = Math.Abs( y1 - e1 );
}else{ // y1 == 0
double numer0 = e0*y0 , denom0 = e0*e0 - e1*e1;
if ( numer0 < denom0 ){
double xde0 = numer0/denom0;
x0 = e0*xde0 ; x1 = e1*Math.Sqrt(1 - xde0*xde0 );
distance = Math.Sqrt( (x0-y0)*(x0-y0) + x1*x1 );
}else{
x0 = e0;
x1 = 0;
distance = Math.Abs( y0 - e0 );
}
}
return distance;
}
The following python code implements the equations described at "Distance from a Point to an Ellipse" and uses newton's method to find the roots and from that the closest point on the ellipse to the point.
Unfortunately, as can be seen from the example, it seems to only be accurate outside the ellipse. Within the ellipse weird things happen.
from math import sin, cos, atan2, pi, fabs
def ellipe_tan_dot(rx, ry, px, py, theta):
'''Dot product of the equation of the line formed by the point
with another point on the ellipse's boundary and the tangent of the ellipse
at that point on the boundary.
'''
return ((rx ** 2 - ry ** 2) * cos(theta) * sin(theta) -
px * rx * sin(theta) + py * ry * cos(theta))
def ellipe_tan_dot_derivative(rx, ry, px, py, theta):
'''The derivative of ellipe_tan_dot.
'''
return ((rx ** 2 - ry ** 2) * (cos(theta) ** 2 - sin(theta) ** 2) -
px * rx * cos(theta) - py * ry * sin(theta))
def estimate_distance(x, y, rx, ry, x0=0, y0=0, angle=0, error=1e-5):
'''Given a point (x, y), and an ellipse with major - minor axis (rx, ry),
its center at (x0, y0), and with a counter clockwise rotation of
`angle` degrees, will return the distance between the ellipse and the
closest point on the ellipses boundary.
'''
x -= x0
y -= y0
if angle:
# rotate the points onto an ellipse whose rx, and ry lay on the x, y
# axis
angle = -pi / 180. * angle
x, y = x * cos(angle) - y * sin(angle), x * sin(angle) + y * cos(angle)
theta = atan2(rx * y, ry * x)
while fabs(ellipe_tan_dot(rx, ry, x, y, theta)) > error:
theta -= ellipe_tan_dot(
rx, ry, x, y, theta) / \
ellipe_tan_dot_derivative(rx, ry, x, y, theta)
px, py = rx * cos(theta), ry * sin(theta)
return ((x - px) ** 2 + (y - py) ** 2) ** .5
Here's an example:
rx, ry = 12, 35 # major, minor ellipse axis
x0 = y0 = 50 # center point of the ellipse
angle = 45 # ellipse's rotation counter clockwise
sx, sy = s = 100, 100 # size of the canvas background
dist = np.zeros(s)
for x in range(sx):
for y in range(sy):
dist[x, y] = estimate_distance(x, y, rx, ry, x0, y0, angle)
plt.imshow(dist.T, extent=(0, sx, 0, sy), origin="lower")
plt.colorbar()
ax = plt.gca()
ellipse = Ellipse(xy=(x0, y0), width=2 * rx, height=2 * ry, angle=angle,
edgecolor='r', fc='None', linestyle='dashed')
ax.add_patch(ellipse)
plt.show()
Which generates an ellipse and the distance from the boundary of the ellipse as a heat map. As can be seen, at the boundary the distance is zero (deep blue).
Given an ellipse E in parametric form and a point P
the square of the distance between P and E(t) is
The minimum must satisfy
Using the trigonometric identities
and substituting
yields the following quartic equation:
Here's an example C function that solves the quartic directly and computes sin(t) and cos(t) for the nearest point on the ellipse:
void nearest(double a, double b, double x, double y, double *ecos_ret, double *esin_ret) {
double ax = fabs(a*x);
double by = fabs(b*y);
double r = b*b - a*a;
double c, d;
int switched = 0;
if (ax <= by) {
if (by == 0) {
if (r >= 0) { *ecos_ret = 1; *esin_ret = 0; }
else { *ecos_ret = 0; *esin_ret = 1; }
return;
}
c = (ax - r) / by;
d = (ax + r) / by;
} else {
c = (by + r) / ax;
d = (by - r) / ax;
switched = 1;
}
double cc = c*c;
double D0 = 12*(c*d + 1); // *-4
double D1 = 54*(d*d - cc); // *4
double D = D1*D1 + D0*D0*D0; // *16
double St;
if (D < 0) {
double t = sqrt(-D0); // *2
double phi = acos(D1 / (t*t*t));
St = 2*t*cos((1.0/3)*phi); // *2
} else {
double Q = cbrt(D1 + sqrt(D)); // *2
St = Q - D0 / Q; // *2
}
double p = 3*cc; // *-2
double SS = (1.0/3)*(p + St); // *4
double S = sqrt(SS); // *2
double q = 2*cc*c + 4*d; // *2
double l = sqrt(p - SS + q / S) - S - c; // *2
double ll = l*l; // *4
double ll4 = ll + 4; // *4
double esin = (4*l) / ll4;
double ecos = (4 - ll) / ll4;
if (switched) {
double t = esin;
esin = ecos;
ecos = t;
}
*ecos_ret = copysign(ecos, a*x);
*esin_ret = copysign(esin, b*y);
}
Try it online!
You just need to calculate the intersection of the line [P1,P0] to your elipse which is S1.
If the line equeation is:
and the elipse equesion is:
than the values of S1 will be:
Now you just need to calculate the distance between S1 to P1 , the formula (for A,B points) is:
I've solved the distance issue via focal points.
For every point on the ellipse
r1 + r2 = 2*a0
where
r1 - Euclidean distance from the given point to focal point 1
r2 - Euclidean distance from the given point to focal point 2
a0 - semimajor axis length
I can also calculate the r1 and r2 for any given point which gives me another ellipse that this point lies on that is concentric to the given ellipse. So the distance is
d = Abs((r1 + r2) / 2 - a0)
As propposed by user3235832
you shall solve quartic equation to find the normal to the ellipse (https://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath505/kmath505.htm). With good initial value only few iterations are needed (I use it myself). As an initial value I use S1 from your picture.
The fastest method I guess is
http://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/~rn/distance2ellipse.pdf
Which has been mentioned also by Matt but as he found out the method doesn't work very well inside of ellipse.
The problem is the theta initialization.
I proposed an stable initialization:
Find the intersection of ellipse and horizontal line passing the point.
Find the other intersection using vertical line.
Choose the one that is closer the point.
Calculate the initial angle based on that point.
I got good results with no issue inside and outside:
As you can see in the following image it just iterated about 3 times to reach 1e-8. Close to axis it is 1 iteration.
The C++ code is here:
double initialAngle(double a, double b, double x, double y) {
auto abs_x = fabs(x);
auto abs_y = fabs(y);
bool isOutside = false;
if (abs_x > a || abs_y > b) isOutside = true;
double xd, yd;
if (!isOutside) {
xd = sqrt((1.0 - y * y / (b * b)) * (a * a));
if (abs_x > xd)
isOutside = true;
else {
yd = sqrt((1.0 - x * x / (a * a)) * (b * b));
if (abs_y > yd)
isOutside = true;
}
}
double t;
if (isOutside)
t = atan2(a * y, b * x); //The point is outside of ellipse
else {
//The point is inside
if (xd < yd) {
if (x < 0) xd = -xd;
t = atan2(y, xd);
}
else {
if (y < 0) yd = -yd;
t = atan2(yd, x);
}
}
return t;
}
double distanceToElipse(double a, double b, double x, double y, int maxIter = 10, double maxError = 1e-5) {
//std::cout <<"p="<< x << "," << y << std::endl;
auto a2mb2 = a * a - b * b;
double t = initialAngle(a, b, x, y);
auto ct = cos(t);
auto st = sin(t);
int i;
double err;
for (i = 0; i < maxIter; i++) {
auto f = a2mb2 * ct * st - x * a * st + y * b * ct;
auto fp = a2mb2 * (ct * ct - st * st) - x * a * ct - y * b * st;
auto t2 = t - f / fp;
err = fabs(t2 - t);
//std::cout << i + 1 << " " << err << std::endl;
t = t2;
ct = cos(t);
st = sin(t);
if (err < maxError) break;
}
auto dx = a * ct - x;
auto dy = b * st - y;
//std::cout << a * ct << "," << b * st << std::endl;
return sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}