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iOS

How to calculate distance between two longitude and latitude points.

How do I calculate the distance between two longitude and latitude points in Swift.

I have the users current location and need to work out the distance between another location.

Thanks

I'm just commenting because I want to know how too :P

3 Answers

The easiest way to do this is to use the Haversine Formula

Here's some code to get you started

+ (CGFloat)directMetersFromCoordinate:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)from toCoordinate:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)to {

    static const double DEG_TO_RAD = 0.017453292519943295769236907684886;  
    static const double EARTH_RADIUS_IN_METERS = 6372797.560856;  

    double latitudeArc  = (from.latitude - to.latitude) * DEG_TO_RAD;
    double longitudeArc = (from.longitude - to.longitude) * DEG_TO_RAD;
    double latitudeH = sin(latitudeArc * 0.5);
    latitudeH *= latitudeH;
    double lontitudeH = sin(longitudeArc * 0.5);
    lontitudeH *= lontitudeH;
    double tmp = cos(from.latitude*DEG_TO_RAD) * cos(to.latitude*DEG_TO_RAD);
    return EARTH_RADIUS_IN_METERS * 2.0 * asin(sqrt(latitudeH + tmp*lontitudeH));
}

from: http://www.codecodex.com/wiki/Calculate_Distance_Between_Two_Points_on_a_Globe#Objective_C

This website details lots of different methods in JavaScript, but it's the equations you'll want: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html

Good luck! Hope this helps.