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The slant distance s (chord length) between two points can be reduced to the arc length on the ellipsoid surface S as: [21] = (+) / / where R is evaluated from Earth's azimuthal radius of curvature and h are ellipsoidal heights are each point. The first term on the right-hand side of the equation accounts for the mean elevation and the second ...
The haversine formula determines the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere given their longitudes and latitudes. Important in navigation , it is a special case of a more general formula in spherical trigonometry , the law of haversines , that relates the sides and angles of spherical triangles.
A diagram illustrating great-circle distance (drawn in red) between two points on a sphere, P and Q. Two antipodal points, u and v are also shown. The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path ...
For example, to find the midpoint of the path, substitute σ = 1 ⁄ 2 (σ 01 + σ 02); alternatively to find the point a distance d from the starting point, take σ = σ 01 + d/R. Likewise, the vertex, the point on the great circle with greatest latitude, is found by substituting σ = + 1 ⁄ 2 π. It may be convenient to parameterize the ...
Vincenty's formulae are two related iterative methods used in geodesy to calculate the distance between two points on the surface of a spheroid, developed by Thaddeus Vincenty (1975a). They are based on the assumption that the figure of the Earth is an oblate spheroid, and hence are more accurate than methods that assume a spherical Earth, such ...
This is analogous to the Earth's surface, where the geodesic between two points along a great circle is the shortest route only up to the antipodal point; beyond that, there are shorter paths. Beyond a conjugate point, a geodesic in Lorentzian geometry may not be maximizing proper time (for timelike geodesics), and the geodesic may enter a ...
The shortest path between two points on a spheroid is known as a geodesic. Such paths are developed using differential geometry. The equator and meridians are great ellipses that are also geodesics [a]. The maximum difference in length between a great ellipse and the corresponding geodesic of length 5,000 nautical miles is about 10.5 meters.
That is (unlike road distance with one-way streets) the distance between two points does not depend on which of the two points is the start and which is the destination. [12] It is positive, meaning that the distance between every two distinct points is a positive number, while the distance from any point to itself is zero. [12]