How do I calculate the distance between two points?

Question

I have a calculate function and the latlng values but how do I calculate the distance between the first and the last?

 function calculate() {
         //poo abbreviation for point of origin not poo=shit
         var poolat = locations[0].lat;
         var poolng = locations[0].lng;
         var destlat = locations[locations.length - 1].lat;
         var destlng = locations[locations.length - 1].lng;

Your post needs a bit more info to be answered. Are you looking for the straight line distance between two points (as the crow flies)? — Tom, Apr 21 '17 at 17:03
Yes, aerial distance, nevermind I got it working, thank you anyway sir — dbzabuse, Apr 21 '17 at 17:32

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

3

This question has already been answered here: Calculate distance between two latitude-longitude points? (Haversine formula)

Note that the Haversine formula assumes a perfect sphere, not a spheroid which is what the earth is.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

1
1

answered Apr 21 '17 at 17:02

jchen123

61
7

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 21 '17 at 17:23

There is two ways, you can use the Haversine formula which requires a little more typing or you can use the API.

Try the following in your calculate function

var distance = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(
    new google.maps.LatLng(poolat, poolng), 
    new google.maps.LatLng(destlat, destlng)
);

console.log(distance);

Note:

The default value of the distance is in metres.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 21 '17 at 17:18

Try this. The built in Math functions make it much easier

function calculate() {
     //poo abbreviation for shit
     var poolat = locations[0].lat;
     var poolng = locations[0].lng;
     var destlat = locations[locations.length - 1].lat;
     var destlng = locations[locations.length - 1].lng;

     return Math.sqrt(Math.pow((destlat - poolat),2) + Math.pow((destlng - poolng),2))
}

How do I calculate the distance between two points?

3 Answers3