Formula For Distance Between Two Points On A Sphere Complete Guide

In the haversine formula d is the distance between two points along a great circle r is the radius of the sphere ϕ 1 and ϕ 2 are the latitudes of the two points and l 1 and l 2 are the longitudes of the two points all in radians. The points on the sphere are all the same distance from a fixed point. The straight line distance between these two points is given by the well known formula.

For example there is the Great-circle distance which is the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere.

Also the ratio of the distance of its points from two fixed points is constant. Another similar way to measure distances is by using the Haversine formula which takes the equation a h a v D f c o s f 1 c o s f 2 h a v D l. The shortest distance between any two points on the sphere surface is the Great Circle distance. Haversine formula mostly used to calculate distances for spherical shape.