# # Haversine formula to compute the great circle distance between two points given their latitude and longitudes # # Notes: # # translated into Ruby based on information contained in: # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haversine_formula # # This formula can compute accurate distances between two points given latitude and longitude, even for # short distances. require 'haversine/distance' module Haversine RAD_PER_DEG = Math::PI / 180 # given two lat/lon points, compute the distance between the two points using the haversine formula def self.distance(lat1, lon1, lat2=nil, lon2=nil) # Accept two arrays of points in addition to four coordinates if lat1.is_a?(Array) && lon1.is_a?(Array) lat2, lon2 = lon1 lat1, lon1 = lat1 elsif lat2.nil? || lon2.nil? raise ArgumentError end dlon = lon2 - lon1 dlat = lat2 - lat1 a = calc(dlat, lat1, lat2, dlon) c = 2 * Math.atan2( Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a)) Haversine::Distance.new(c) end # TODO How can this be more descriptively named? def self.calc(dlat, lat1, lat2, dlon) (Math.sin(rpd(dlat)/2))**2 + Math.cos(rpd(lat1)) * Math.cos((rpd(lat2))) * (Math.sin(rpd(dlon)/2))**2 end # Radians per degree def self.rpd(num) num * RAD_PER_DEG end end