Finding the Great Circle Distance between 2 Known Points (over a sphere) or, Why it's so much easier

to do this in caresian c
To find the great circle distance between 2 points P1 and P2, enter your data in the fields below in degrees.
You can examine the intermediate results in the computation fields.
Please note: The formula below is based on the earth as a sphere. It will give inaccurate results for long distances.

Enter your values in decimal degrees Distance from P1 to P2

(use negative values for S lat, W long)
P1 Lat P1 Long P2 Lat P2 Long dist meters dist KM
0 0 0 0 0 0

This is the formula for conversion: (from Weisstein, Eric W. "Great Circle." From MathWorld--A Wolfram W

where
a = radius of the earth (we are using the Clarke 1866 radius at the equator: 6378206.4 meters
d1 = latitude of P1 in radians
d2 = latitude of P2 in radians
l1 = longitude of P1 in radians
l2 = longitude of P2 in radians
cos -1 = inverse or arc cosine (returns the angle in radians from the given cosine)
For the computational fields below:
latP1 rad = latitude of P1 in radians latP2 rad = latitude of P2 in radians
lngP1 rad = longitude of P1 in radians lngP2 rad = longitude of P2 in radians
cos arc = cosine of angle between P1 and P2 radius M = Clarke 1866 earth radius in meters at Equator
arc Rad = angle between P1 and P2 in radians dist meters = GC distance between P1 and P2 in meters
arc Deg = same as arc Rad but in degrees

Click on any of the values below to see how it was computed

latP1 rad lngP1 rad latP2 rad lngP2 rad cos latP1 cos lngP1 sin latP1 sin lngP1 cos latP2
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1

Some Conversions
1 min arc in dd M to f
0.01666 3.28084

An interesting thing to try:

1 minute of arc = 0.01666 decimal degrees.
Try making the latitude of P1 some integer value of latitude and the latitude of P2 the value of P1 + 1 minute of arc
The length of 1 minute of arc on the earth (as an ellipsoid) as defined by international standard is 1,852 kilometers.
 h easier to do this in caresian coords (over short distances, anyways)
fields below in degrees.

rate results for long distances.

From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GreatCircle.html )

dist KM = GC distance between P1 and P2 in kilometers

dist miles = GC distance between P1 and P2 in statute miles
h radius in meters at Equator circ miles = circumference of the earth in miles (reality check)
tween P1 and P2 in meters circ KM = same as above but in KM

cos lngP2 sin latP2 sin lngP2 cos arc arc Rad radius M dist meters dist KM dist miles
1 0 0 1 0 6378206.4 0 0 0
arc Deg
0

e value of P1 + 1 minute of arc. Keep the longitudes of both points the same.
al standard is 1,852 kilometers. How close do you get?
circ miles circ km
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