SUMMARY
The minimum distance between two geographical coordinates on Earth can be calculated using the concept of great circles. The formula involves determining the central angle θ between the two points, which can be derived from their latitude and longitude. The distance is then calculated using the formula: distance = R * θ, where R is the Earth's radius and θ is in radians. For calculations in degrees, the formula adjusts to distance = R * θ * (π/180).
PREREQUISITES
- Understanding of spherical geometry
- Familiarity with latitude and longitude coordinates
- Knowledge of radians and degrees conversion
- Basic trigonometry
NEXT STEPS
- Research the Haversine formula for calculating distances between two points on a sphere
- Learn about spherical law of cosines for distance calculations
- Explore geospatial libraries such as Geopy for Python
- Study the implications of Earth's radius variations in distance calculations
USEFUL FOR
Geographers, cartographers, software developers working with geolocation data, and anyone interested in calculating distances on Earth's surface.