Question

Problem

I would like to know how to get the distance and bearing between two GPS points.

I have researched on the haversine distance. Someone told me that I could also find the bearing using the same data.

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Everything is working fine, but the bearing doesn’t quite work right yet. The bearing outputs negative, but it should be between 0 – 360 degrees.

The set data should make the horizontal bearing 96.02166666666666
and is:

Start point: 53.32055555555556, -1.7297222222222221
Bearing:  96.02166666666666
Distance: 2 km
Destination point: 53.31861111111111, -1.6997222222222223
Final bearing: 96.04555555555555

Here is my new code:

from math import *

Aaltitude = 2000
Oppsite  = 20000

lat1 = 53.32055555555556
lat2 = 53.31861111111111
lon1 = -1.7297222222222221
lon2 = -1.6997222222222223

lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2 = map(radians, [lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2])

dlon = lon2 - lon1
dlat = lat2 - lat1
a = sin(dlat/2)**2 + cos(lat1) * cos(lat2) * sin(dlon/2)**2
c = 2 * atan2(sqrt(a), sqrt(1-a))
Base = 6371 * c


Bearing = atan2(cos(lat1)*sin(lat2)-sin(lat1)*cos(lat2)*cos(lon2-lon1), sin(lon2-lon1)*cos(lat2))

Bearing = degrees(Bearing)
print ""
print ""
print "--------------------"
print "Horizontal Distance: "
print Base
print "--------------------"
print "Bearing: "
print Bearing
print "--------------------"


Base2 = Base * 1000
distance = Base * 2 + Oppsite * 2 / 2
Caltitude = Oppsite - Aaltitude

a = Oppsite/Base
b = atan(a)
c = degrees(b)

distance = distance / 1000

print "The degree of vertical angle is: "
print c
print "--------------------"
print "The distance between the Balloon GPS and the Antenna GPS is: "
print distance
print "--------------------"

Answer 1

Here’s a Python version:

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

def haversine(lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2):
    """
    Calculate the great circle distance in kilometers 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. Determines return value units.
    return c * r