How do I calculate distance between two GPS coordinates (using latitude and longitude)?
Calculate the distance between two coordinates by latitude and longitude, including a Javascript implementation.
West and South locations are negative. Remember minutes and seconds are out of 60 so S31 30' is -31.50 degrees.
Don't forget to convert degrees to radians. Many languages have this function. Or its a simple calculation: radians = degrees * PI / 180
.
function degreesToRadians(degrees) {
return degrees * Math.PI / 180;
}
function distanceInKmBetweenEarthCoordinates(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
var earthRadiusKm = 6371;
var dLat = degreesToRadians(lat2-lat1);
var dLon = degreesToRadians(lon2-lon1);
lat1 = degreesToRadians(lat1);
lat2 = degreesToRadians(lat2);
var a = Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) +
Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.cos(lat1) * Math.cos(lat2);
var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
return earthRadiusKm * c;
}
Here are some examples of usage:
distanceInKmBetweenEarthCoordinates(0,0,0,0) // Distance between same
// points should be 0
0
distanceInKmBetweenEarthCoordinates(51.5, 0, 38.8, -77.1) // From London
// to Arlington
5918.185064088764