Finding distance between CLLocationCoordinate2D points

Question

I know from documentation we can find distance between two CLLocation points using the function, distanceFromLocation:. But my problem is I dont have CLLocation data type with me, I have the CLLocationCoordinate2D points. So how can I find distance between two CLLocationCoordinate2D points. I have seen the post post but not helpful for me.

Distance calculations are actually quite tricky. You should really have a second look at CLLocation. — David Rönnqvist, Jun 18 '12 at 05:42
do u have lat and long then create cllocation and then use CLLocationDistance meters = [newLocation distanceFromLocation:oldLocation]; — Paresh Navadiya, Jun 18 '12 at 05:43
Check this : [distanceFromLocation - Calculate distance between two points][1] [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3905896/distancefromlocation-calculate-distance-between-two-points — webmastx, Jun 18 '12 at 05:52

score 41 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 10 '18 at 15:00

41

You should create an object of CLLocation using,

- (id)initWithLatitude:(CLLocationDegrees)latitude
    longitude:(CLLocationDegrees)longitude;

Then, you should be able to calculate the distance using

[location1 distanceFromLocation:location2];

edited Sep 10 '18 at 15:00

Cris

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answered Jun 18 '12 at 05:42

Apurv

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With code CLLocationDistance distance = [aCLLocationA distanceFromLocation:aCLLocationB]; // distance is a double representing the distance in meters (Source - http://stackoverflow.com/a/10432069/1364174) – Paweł Brewczynski Jul 24 '14 at 07:31
No needs to create CLLocation for getting distance between points. Please look at my answer at the bottom – Valerii Lider Jun 19 '15 at 11:39

score 37 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 05 '20 at 09:33

37

Swift 5:

extension CLLocation {
    
    /// Get distance between two points
    ///
    /// - Parameters:
    ///   - from: first point
    ///   - to: second point
    /// - Returns: the distance in meters
    class func distance(from: CLLocationCoordinate2D, to: CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance {
        let from = CLLocation(latitude: from.latitude, longitude: from.longitude)
        let to = CLLocation(latitude: to.latitude, longitude: to.longitude)
        return from.distance(from: to)
    }
}

edited Jul 05 '20 at 09:33

Alexander Volkov

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answered Feb 23 '15 at 21:10

Aviel Gross

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But I think more like this: extension CLLocationCoordinate2D { // In meteres func distance(#to:CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance { let from = CLLocation(latitude: self.latitude, longitude: self.longitude) let to = CLLocation(latitude: to.latitude, longitude: to.longitude) return from.distanceFromLocation(to) } } – kwerle May 04 '15 at 16:31

score 33 · Answer 3 · answered May 25 '15 at 16:06

If it is ok for you to get distance in meters between points, then

CLLocationCoordinate2D coordinate1 = <some value>
CLLocationCoordinate2D coordinate2 = <some value>
…
MKMapPoint point1 = MKMapPointForCoordinate(coordinate1);
MKMapPoint point2 = MKMapPointForCoordinate(coordinate2);
CLLocationDistance distance = MKMetersBetweenMapPoints(point1, point2);

will return the distance between two points. No needs to create CLLocation by given CLLocationCoordinate2D. This defines are available since iOS 4.0

Good, but needs MapKit to be linked. Using CLLocation and then distance doesn't need it. — Valeriy Van, Apr 26 '18 at 12:40

Eric Yuan · Answer 4 · 2023-08-24T07:54:05.910

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Swift5: combined above thoughts

extension CLLocationCoordinate2D {
    //distance in meters, as explained in CLLoactionDistance definition
    func distance(from: CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance {
        let destination=CLLocation(latitude:from.latitude,longitude:from.longitude)
        return CLLocation(latitude: latitude, longitude: longitude).distance(from: destination)
    }
}

edited Aug 24 '23 at 07:54

answered Dec 14 '17 at 11:21

Eric Yuan

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 03 '15 at 14:12

    let point1 = MKMapPointForCoordinate(myLocation)
    let point2 = MKMapPointForCoordinate(friendLocation)
    let distance = MKMetersBetweenMapPoints(point1, point2)/1000
    let distanceStr = NSString(format: "%.3f", distance)

Simple version of Valleri's answer. Divide by 1000 to get KM followed by conversion to string.

Ralf Ebert · Answer 6 · 2021-09-14T16:32:43.773

CLLocationCoordinate2D+Distance.swift for Swift 5.5 based on MapKit:

import MapKit

extension CLLocationCoordinate2D {

    /// Returns the distance between two coordinates in meters.
    func distance(to: CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance {
        MKMapPoint(self).distance(to: MKMapPoint(to))
    }

}

Version based on CLLocation:

import CoreLocation

extension CLLocationCoordinate2D {

    /// Returns the distance between two coordinates in meters.
    func distance(to: CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance {
        CLLocation(latitude: latitude, longitude: longitude)
            .distance(from: CLLocation(latitude: to.latitude, longitude: to.longitude))
    }

}

Both extensions have a performance overhead which might be relevant if processing a large amount of coordinates. In those cases:

There is an extension to CLLocationCoordinate2D in the Euclid package which performs the computation directly, see: distance(to:)

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 19 '20 at 20:12

Swift 5: CLLocationCoordinate2D extension to calculate distance:

extension CLLocationCoordinate2D {
    /// Returns distance from coordianate in meters.
    /// - Parameter from: coordinate which will be used as end point.
    /// - Returns: Returns distance in meters.
    func distance(from: CLLocationCoordinate2D) -> CLLocationDistance {
        let from = CLLocation(latitude: from.latitude, longitude: from.longitude)
        let to = CLLocation(latitude: self.latitude, longitude: self.longitude)
        return from.distance(from: to)
    }
}

Usage:

let coordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 11, longitude: 39)
let from = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: 30, longitude: 43)
let distance = coordinate.distance(from: from)

Alex Chase · Answer 8 · 2019-08-28T20:20:05.043

-2

CLLocationDistance is a measurement in meters.

let point1 = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: lat1, longitude: lon1)
let point2 = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: lat2, longitude: lon2)
let distance = point1.distance(to: point2)

edited Aug 28 '19 at 20:20

answered May 02 '19 at 01:59

Alex Chase

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There's no need to import another framework (MapKit) just for calculating distances. `CLLocation` *does* have a `distance(from:)` method that calculates distances between two `CLLocation` objects, and it's pure CoreLocation. – Alejandro Iván Aug 23 '19 at 15:06
Swift 4+: Just use let distance = aLocation.distance(from: anotherLocation) https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocation/1423689-distance – MartijndeM Jun 18 '20 at 07:11

Finding distance between CLLocationCoordinate2D points

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