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javascriptgeolocationgeocodinghaversine

How to calculate the distance between two latitude and longitude

I'm trying to calculate the distance between Vancouver and Toronto using their latitude and longitudes. I'm using haversine formula. I'm expecting a distance of around 4390 km. Can someone tell me what mistake I'm making. Here is my code:

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html> 
<head> 
<title></title>
</head>
<body onload="getDistance()">
<script>
    // Convert Degress to Radians
    function Deg2Rad( deg ) {
       return deg * Math.PI / 180;
    }

    function getDistance()
    {       
        //Toronto Latitude  43.74 and longitude  -79.37
        //Vancouver Latitude  49.25 and longitude  -123.12
        lat1 = Deg2Rad(43.74); 
        lat2 = Deg2Rad(49.25); 
        lon1 = Deg2Rad(-79.37); 
        lon2 = Deg2Rad(-123.12);
        latDiff = lat2-lat1;
        lonDiff = lon2-lon1;
        var R = 6371000; // metres
        var φ1 = lat1;
        var φ2 = lat2;
        var Δφ = Deg2Rad(latDiff);
        var Δλ = Deg2Rad(lonDiff);

        var a = Math.sin(Δφ/2) * Math.sin(Δφ/2) +
                Math.cos(φ1) * Math.cos(φ2) *
                Math.sin(Δλ/2) * Math.sin(Δλ/2);
        var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));

        var d = R * c;
        alert('d: ' + d);

        var dist = Math.acos( Math.sin(φ1)*Math.sin(φ2) + Math.cos(φ1)*Math.cos(φ2) * Math.cos(Δλ) ) * R;
        alert('dist: ' + dist);
    }       
 </script>
 </body>
 </html>

When I run this code, I get quite different numbers.

Solution

  • I think you should expect more like 3358km. http://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from/Toronto/to/Vancouver

    Here is a fiddle with the correct result: https://jsfiddle.net/Lk1du2L1/

    And in that case, you'll be correct if you'd remove your deg2rad form your secondary results - you're doing it too often:

     <!DOCTYPE html> 
<html> 
<head> 
<title></title>
</head>
<body onload="getDistance()">
<script>
    // Convert Degress to Radians
    function Deg2Rad( deg ) {
       return deg * Math.PI / 180;
    }

    function getDistance()
    {       
        //Toronto Latitude  43.74 and longitude  -79.37
        //Vancouver Latitude  49.25 and longitude  -123.12
        lat1 = Deg2Rad(43.74); 
        lat2 = Deg2Rad(49.25); 
        lon1 = Deg2Rad(-79.37); 
        lon2 = Deg2Rad(-123.12);
        latDiff = lat2-lat1;
        lonDiff = lon2-lon1;
        var R = 6371000; // metres
        var φ1 = lat1;
        var φ2 = lat2;
        var Δφ = latDiff;
        var Δλ = lonDiff;

        var a = Math.sin(Δφ/2) * Math.sin(Δφ/2) +
                Math.cos(φ1) * Math.cos(φ2) *
                Math.sin(Δλ/2) * Math.sin(Δλ/2);
        var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));

        var d = R * c;
        alert('d: ' + d);

        var dist = Math.acos( Math.sin(φ1)*Math.sin(φ2) + Math.cos(φ1)*Math.cos(φ2) * Math.cos(Δλ) ) * R;
        alert('dist: ' + dist);
    }       
 </script>
 </body>
 </html>