GeoDistance

GeoDistance[{lat1,lon1},{lat2,lon2}]

gives the geodesic distance between latitude-longitude positions on the Earth.

GeoDistance[loc1,loc2]

gives the distance between locations specified by position objects or geographical entities.

GeoDistance[{loc1,,locn}]

gives the total distance from loc1 to locn through all the intermediate loci.

Details and Options

Examples

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Basic Examples  (6)

Distance between two positions on the reference ellipsoid:

Distance between two cities:

Distance between two fully specified geodetic positions:

Distance between two historical entities at the time of their closest approach:

Distances from a location to a list of different locations:

Total distance between several locations:

Scope  (11)

Geographic Data  (8)

Distance between any two points on the Earth, using the parameters of the default datum "ITRF00":

Angles can also be specified as DMS strings:

Or as Quantity objects:

Compute the distance between Entity objects:

Or between an Entity object and a geo position:

Distance between geodetic positions, in different formats:

Compute distances from a common location to a list of positions, in any format:

Normalize the resulting QuantityArray object:

Compute a matrix of distances between two lists of locations:

Computing all individual distances separately is slower:

Height and time information is ignored in GeoDistance computations:

Points in different datums. The datum of the second point is changed to the datum of the first:

The difference is small:

Total distance between several locations:

Historical Data  (3)

The distance between two historical entities is the minimum distance between their territories at the same time:

Using the GeoVariant "UnionArea" performs the computation, ignoring temporal information:

Dated restricts the historical entity to a specific date:

Dated can also be given with a date interval or a pair of dates or years:

The distance between a historical entity and a non-historical entity is calculated using all territories:

Dated can be used to restrict the polygons to a given date or interval:

Options  (2)

DistanceFunction  (1)

For extended entities, the distance is computed as the minimum between boundary points:

The distance between centers is larger:

When an entity is inside the other, a signed definition of distance can be used:

UnitSystem  (1)

The default unit of the result is determined by the value of $UnitSystem:

Change to a different system:

Applications  (2)

Compute the distances from your location to all US state capital cities:

Find the minimum, maximum and mean distances:

Plot a histogram of all those distances:

Draw a Mercator map of all geodesics from your location to the US capital cities:

A nautical mile was traditionally defined as the distance corresponding to a minute of arc of a meridian:

This depends on the latitude:

The standard "NauticalMiles" unit approximates the value at latitude 45 degrees:

Properties & Relations  (10)

GeoDistance is a symmetric function:

GeoDistance is a partial inverse of GeoDestination:

GeoDistance returns part of the result returned by GeoDisplacement for point-like locations:

The length of a degree of parallel strongly depends on latitude:

But the length of a degree of meridian is approximately constant:

The distance corresponding to a given meridian angle α increases when approaching the poles:

Compute distances between consecutive pairs in a list of points with GeoDistanceList:

The same result can be obtained using Partition and GeoDistance, though in a less efficient way:

Include the distance between the last and first point:

GeoDistance computes distances between points:

GeoLength computes the length of a geo path:

Construct points on a geodesic circle, starting with regular bearings:

On an ellipsoid, they are not exactly equidistant:

Construct multiple points along a geodesic, at regular distance intervals:

The list of distances can also be obtained with GeoDistanceList:

The distance between two locations coincides with the distance between their antipodal locations:

Possible Issues  (2)

Distance between extended geo entities is computed between boundaries by default, and hence zero for contiguous entities:

Therefore, this total distance is also zero:

The GeoDistance of two historical entities that do not coexist in time returns unevaluated:

Wolfram Research (2008), GeoDistance, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html (updated 2024).

Text

Wolfram Research (2008), GeoDistance, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html (updated 2024).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2008. "GeoDistance." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2024. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2008). GeoDistance. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2024_geodistance, author="Wolfram Research", title="{GeoDistance}", year="2024", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html}", note=[Accessed: 04-October-2024 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2024_geodistance, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={GeoDistance}, year={2024}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GeoDistance.html}, note=[Accessed: 04-October-2024 ]}