Find nearest latitude/longitude with an SQL query

Question

I have latitude and longitude and I want to pull the record from the database, which has nearest latitude and longitude by the distance, if that distance gets longer than specified one, then don't retrieve it.

Table structure:

id
latitude
longitude
place name
city
country
state
zip
sealevel

Answer 1

SELECT latitude, longitude, SQRT(
    POW(69.1 * (latitude - [startlat]), 2) +
    POW(69.1 * ([startlng] - longitude) * COS(latitude / 57.3), 2)) AS distance
FROM TableName HAVING distance < 25 ORDER BY distance;

where [starlat] and [startlng] is the position where to start measuring the distance.

Answer 2

Google's solution:

Creating the Table

When you create the MySQL table, you want to pay particular attention to the lat and lng attributes. With the current zoom capabilities of Google Maps, you should only need 6 digits of precision after the decimal. To keep the storage space required for your table at a minimum, you can specify that the lat and lng attributes are floats of size (10,6). That will let the fields store 6 digits after the decimal, plus up to 4 digits before the decimal, e.g. -123.456789 degrees. Your table should also have an id attribute to serve as the primary key.

CREATE TABLE `markers` (
  `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY ,
  `name` VARCHAR( 60 ) NOT NULL ,
  `address` VARCHAR( 80 ) NOT NULL ,
  `lat` FLOAT( 10, 6 ) NOT NULL ,
  `lng` FLOAT( 10, 6 ) NOT NULL
) ENGINE = MYISAM ;

Populating the Table

After creating the table, it's time to populate it with data. The sample data provided below is for about 180 pizzarias scattered across the United States. In phpMyAdmin, you can use the IMPORT tab to import various file formats, including CSV (comma-separated values). Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets both export to CSV format, so you can easily transfer data from spreadsheets to MySQL tables through exporting/importing CSV files.

INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Frankie Johnnie & Luigo Too','939 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA','37.386339','-122.085823');
INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Amici\'s East Coast Pizzeria','790 Castro St, Mountain View, CA','37.38714','-122.083235');
INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Kapp\'s Pizza Bar & Grill','191 Castro St, Mountain View, CA','37.393885','-122.078916');
INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Round Table Pizza: Mountain View','570 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA','37.402653','-122.079354');
INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Tony & Alba\'s Pizza & Pasta','619 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA','37.394011','-122.095528');
INSERT INTO `markers` (`name`, `address`, `lat`, `lng`) VALUES ('Oregano\'s Wood-Fired Pizza','4546 El Camino Real, Los Altos, CA','37.401724','-122.114646');

Finding Locations with MySQL

To find locations in your markers table that are within a certain radius distance of a given latitude/longitude, you can use a SELECT statement based on the Haversine formula. The Haversine formula is used generally for computing great-circle distances between two pairs of coordinates on a sphere. An in-depth mathemetical explanation is given by Wikipedia and a good discussion of the formula as it relates to programming is on Movable Type's site.

Here's the SQL statement that will find the closest 20 locations that are within a radius of 25 miles to the 37, -122 coordinate. It calculates the distance based on the latitude/longitude of that row and the target latitude/longitude, and then asks for only rows where the distance value is less than 25, orders the whole query by distance, and limits it to 20 results. To search by kilometers instead of miles, replace 3959 with 6371.

SELECT 
id, 
(
   3959 *
   acos(cos(radians(37)) * 
   cos(radians(lat)) * 
   cos(radians(lng) - 
   radians(-122)) + 
   sin(radians(37)) * 
   sin(radians(lat )))
) AS distance 
FROM markers 
HAVING distance < 28 
ORDER BY distance LIMIT 0, 20;

This one is to find latitudes and longitudes in a distance less than 28 miles.

Another one is to find them in a distance between 28 and 29 miles:

SELECT 
id, 
(
   3959 *
   acos(cos(radians(37)) * 
   cos(radians(lat)) * 
   cos(radians(lng) - 
   radians(-122)) + 
   sin(radians(37)) * 
   sin(radians(lat )))
) AS distance 
FROM markers 
HAVING distance < 29 and distance > 28 
ORDER BY distance LIMIT 0, 20;

https://developers.google.com/maps/articles/phpsqlsearch_v3#creating-the-map

Answer 3

The original answers to the question are good, but newer versions of mysql (MySQL 5.7.6 on) support geo queries, so you can now use built in functionality rather than doing complex queries.

You can now do something like:

select *, ST_Distance_Sphere( point ('input_longitude', 'input_latitude'), 
                              point(longitude, latitude)) * .000621371192 
          as `distance_in_miles` 
  from `TableName`
having `distance_in_miles` <= 'input_max_distance'
 order by `distance_in_miles` asc

The results are returned in meters. So if you want in KM simply use .001 instead of .000621371192 (which is for miles).

MySql docs are here

Answer 4

Here is my full solution implemented in PHP.

This solution uses the Haversine formula as presented in http://www.scribd.com/doc/2569355/Geo-Distance-Search-with-MySQL.

It should be noted that the Haversine formula experiences weaknesses around the poles. This answer shows how to implement the vincenty Great Circle Distance formula to get around this, however I chose to just use Haversine because it's good enough for my purposes.

I'm storing latitude as DECIMAL(10,8) and longitude as DECIMAL(11,8). Hopefully this helps!

showClosest.php

<?PHP
/**
 * Use the Haversine Formula to display the 100 closest matches to $origLat, $origLon
 * Only search the MySQL table $tableName for matches within a 10 mile ($dist) radius.
 */
include("./assets/db/db.php"); // Include database connection function
$db = new database(); // Initiate a new MySQL connection
$tableName = "db.table";
$origLat = 42.1365;
$origLon = -71.7559;
$dist = 10; // This is the maximum distance (in miles) away from $origLat, $origLon in which to search
$query = "SELECT name, latitude, longitude, 3956 * 2 * 
          ASIN(SQRT( POWER(SIN(($origLat - latitude)*pi()/180/2),2)
          +COS($origLat*pi()/180 )*COS(latitude*pi()/180)
          *POWER(SIN(($origLon-longitude)*pi()/180/2),2))) 
          as distance FROM $tableName WHERE 
          longitude between ($origLon-$dist/cos(radians($origLat))*69) 
          and ($origLon+$dist/cos(radians($origLat))*69) 
          and latitude between ($origLat-($dist/69)) 
          and ($origLat+($dist/69)) 
          having distance < $dist ORDER BY distance limit 100"; 
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row['name']." > ".$row['distance']."<BR>";
}
mysql_close($db);
?>

./assets/db/db.php

<?PHP
/**
 * Class to initiate a new MySQL connection based on $dbInfo settings found in dbSettings.php
 *
 * @example $db = new database(); // Initiate a new database connection
 * @example mysql_close($db); // close the connection
 */
class database{
    protected $databaseLink;
    function __construct(){
        include "dbSettings.php";
        $this->database = $dbInfo['host'];
        $this->mysql_user = $dbInfo['user'];
        $this->mysql_pass = $dbInfo['pass'];
        $this->openConnection();
        return $this->get_link();
    }
    function openConnection(){
    $this->databaseLink = mysql_connect($this->database, $this->mysql_user, $this->mysql_pass);
    }

    function get_link(){
    return $this->databaseLink;
    }
}
?>

./assets/db/dbSettings.php

<?php
$dbInfo = array(
    'host'      => "localhost",
    'user'      => "root",
    'pass'      => "password"
);
?>

It may be possible to increase performance by using a MySQL stored procedure as suggested by the "Geo-Distance-Search-with-MySQL" article posted above.

I have a database of ~17,000 places and the query execution time is 0.054 seconds.

Answer 5

Just in case you are lazy like me, here's a solution amalgamated from this and other answers on SO.

set @orig_lat=37.46; 
set @orig_long=-122.25; 
set @bounding_distance=1;

SELECT
*
,((ACOS(SIN(@orig_lat * PI() / 180) * SIN(`lat` * PI() / 180) + COS(@orig_lat * PI() / 180) * COS(`lat` * PI() / 180) * COS((@orig_long - `long`) * PI() / 180)) * 180 / PI()) * 60 * 1.1515) AS `distance` 
FROM `cities` 
WHERE
(
  `lat` BETWEEN (@orig_lat - @bounding_distance) AND (@orig_lat + @bounding_distance)
  AND `long` BETWEEN (@orig_long - @bounding_distance) AND (@orig_long + @bounding_distance)
)
ORDER BY `distance` ASC
limit 25;

Answer 6

Easy one ;)

SELECT * FROM `WAYPOINTS` W ORDER BY
ABS(ABS(W.`LATITUDE`-53.63) +
ABS(W.`LONGITUDE`-9.9)) ASC LIMIT 30;

Just replace the coordinates with your required ones. The values have to be stored as double. This ist a working MySQL 5.x example.

Cheers

Answer 7

Try this, it show the nearest points to provided coordinates (within 50 km). It works perfectly:

SELECT m.name,
    m.lat, m.lon,
    p.distance_unit
             * DEGREES(ACOS(COS(RADIANS(p.latpoint))
             * COS(RADIANS(m.lat))
             * COS(RADIANS(p.longpoint) - RADIANS(m.lon))
             + SIN(RADIANS(p.latpoint))
             * SIN(RADIANS(m.lat)))) AS distance_in_km
FROM <table_name> AS m
JOIN (
      SELECT <userLat> AS latpoint, <userLon> AS longpoint,
             50.0 AS radius, 111.045 AS distance_unit
     ) AS p ON 1=1
WHERE m.lat
BETWEEN p.latpoint  - (p.radius / p.distance_unit)
    AND p.latpoint  + (p.radius / p.distance_unit)
    AND m.lon BETWEEN p.longpoint - (p.radius / (p.distance_unit * COS(RADIANS(p.latpoint))))
    AND p.longpoint + (p.radius / (p.distance_unit * COS(RADIANS(p.latpoint))))
ORDER BY distance_in_km

Just change <table_name>. <userLat> and <userLon>

You can read more about this solution here: http://www.plumislandmedia.net/mysql/haversine-mysql-nearest-loc/

Answer 8

You're looking for things like the haversine formula. See here as well.

There's other ones but this is the most commonly cited.

If you're looking for something even more robust, you might want to look at your databases GIS capabilities. They're capable of some cool things like telling you whether a point (City) appears within a given polygon (Region, Country, Continent).

Answer 9

Check this code based on the article Geo-Distance-Search-with-MySQL:

Example: find the 10 nearest hotels to my current location in a 10 miles radius:

#Please notice that (lat,lng) values mustn't be negatives to perform all calculations

set @my_lat=34.6087674878572; 
set @my_lng=58.3783670308302;
set @dist=10; #10 miles radius

SELECT dest.id, dest.lat, dest.lng,  3956 * 2 * ASIN(SQRT(POWER(SIN((@my_lat -abs(dest.lat)) * pi()/180 / 2),2) + COS(@my_lat * pi()/180 ) * COS(abs(dest.lat) *  pi()/180) * POWER(SIN((@my_lng - abs(dest.lng)) *  pi()/180 / 2), 2))
) as distance
FROM hotel as dest
having distance < @dist
ORDER BY distance limit 10;

#Also notice that distance are expressed in terms of radius.

Answer 10

Find nearest Users to my:

Distance in meters

Based in Vincenty's formula

i have User table:

+----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+
| id | email                 | name    | location_lat | location_long |
+----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+
| 13 | xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.com | Isaac   | 17.2675625   | -97.6802361   |
| 14 | xxxx@xxxxxxx.com.mx   | Monse   | 19.392702    | -99.172596    |
+----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+

sql:

-- my location:  lat   19.391124   -99.165660
SELECT 
(ATAN(
    SQRT(
        POW(COS(RADIANS(users.location_lat)) * SIN(RADIANS(users.location_long) - RADIANS(-99.165660)), 2) +
        POW(COS(RADIANS(19.391124)) * SIN(RADIANS(users.location_lat)) - 
       SIN(RADIANS(19.391124)) * cos(RADIANS(users.location_lat)) * cos(RADIANS(users.location_long) - RADIANS(-99.165660)), 2)
    )
    ,
    SIN(RADIANS(19.391124)) * 
    SIN(RADIANS(users.location_lat)) + 
    COS(RADIANS(19.391124)) * 
    COS(RADIANS(users.location_lat)) * 
    COS(RADIANS(users.location_long) - RADIANS(-99.165660))
 ) * 6371000) as distance,
users.id
FROM users
ORDER BY distance ASC

radius of the earth : 6371000 ( in meters)

Answer 11

simpledb.execSQL("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS " + tablename + "(id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY   AUTOINCREMENT,lat double,lng double,address varchar)");
            simpledb.execSQL("insert into '" + tablename + "'(lat,lng,address)values('22.2891001','70.780154','craftbox');");
            simpledb.execSQL("insert into '" + tablename + "'(lat,lng,address)values('22.2901396','70.7782428','kotecha');");//22.2904718 //70.7783906
            simpledb.execSQL("insert into '" + tablename + "'(lat,lng,address)values('22.2863155','70.772108','kkv Hall');");
            simpledb.execSQL("insert into '" + tablename + "'(lat,lng,address)values('22.275993','70.778076','nana mava');");
            simpledb.execSQL("insert into '" + tablename + "'(lat,lng,address)values('22.2667148','70.7609386','Govani boys hostal');");


    double curentlat=22.2667258;  //22.2677258
    double curentlong=70.76096826;//70.76096826

    double curentlat1=curentlat+0.0010000;
    double curentlat2=curentlat-0.0010000;

    double curentlong1=curentlong+0.0010000;
    double curentlong2=curentlong-0.0010000;

    try{

        Cursor c=simpledb.rawQuery("select * from '"+tablename+"' where (lat BETWEEN '"+curentlat2+"' and '"+curentlat1+"') or (lng BETWEEN         '"+curentlong2+"' and '"+curentlong1+"')",null);

        Log.d("SQL ", c.toString());
        if(c.getCount()>0)
        {
            while (c.moveToNext())
            {
                double d=c.getDouble(1);
                double d1=c.getDouble(2);

            }
        }
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

Answer 12

It sounds like you want to do a nearest neighbour search with some bound on the distance. SQL does not support anything like this as far as I am aware and you would need to use an alternative data structure such as an R-tree or kd-tree.

Answer 13

MS SQL Edition here:

        DECLARE @SLAT AS FLOAT
        DECLARE @SLON AS FLOAT

        SET @SLAT = 38.150785
        SET @SLON = 27.360249

        SELECT TOP 10 [LATITUDE], [LONGITUDE], SQRT(
            POWER(69.1 * ([LATITUDE] - @SLAT), 2) +
            POWER(69.1 * (@SLON - [LONGITUDE]) * COS([LATITUDE] / 57.3), 2)) AS distance
        FROM [TABLE] ORDER BY 3

Answer 14

Sounds like you should just use PostGIS, SpatialLite, SQLServer2008, or Oracle Spatial. They can all answer this question for you with spatial SQL.

Answer 15

 +----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+
| id | email                 | name    | location_lat | location_long |
+----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+
| 7  | test@gmail.com        | rembo   | 23.0249256   |  72.5269697   |
| 25 | test1@gmail.com.      | Rajnis  | 23.0233221    | 72.5342112   |
+----+-----------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+

$lat = 23.02350629;

$long = 72.53230239;

DB:: SELECT (" SELECT * FROM ( SELECT , ( ( ( acos( sin(( ". $ lat ." * pi() / 180)) * sin(( lat * pi() / 180)) + cos(( ". $ lat ." pi() / 180 )) * cos(( lat * pi() / 180)) * cos((( ". $ long ." - LONG) * pi() / 180))) ) * 180 / pi() ) * 60 * 1.1515 * 1.609344 ) as distance FROM users ) users WHERE distance <= 2");

Answer 16

In extreme cases this approach fails, but for performance, I've skipped the trigonometry and simply calculated the diagonal squared.

Answer 17

Mysql query for search coordinates with distance limit and where condition

 SELECT id, ( 3959 * acos( cos( radians('28.5850154') ) * cos( radians(latitude) ) * cos( radians( longitude ) - radians('77.07207489999999') ) + sin( radians('28.5850154') ) * sin( radians( latitude ) ) ) ) AS distance FROM `vendors` HAVING distance < 5;

Answer 18

This problem is not very hard at all, but it gets more complicated if you need to optimize it.

What I mean is, do you have 100 locations in your database or 100 million? It makes a big difference.

If the number of locations is small, get them out of SQL and into code by just doing ->

Select * from Location

Once you get them into code, calculate the distance between each lat/lon and your original with the Haversine formula and sort it.