Calculate the center point of multiple latitude/longitude coordinate pairs

Question

Given a set of latitude and longitude points, how can I calculate the latitude and longitude of the center point of that set (aka a point that would center a view on all poi

Answer 1

In the interest of possibly saving someone a minute or two, here is the solution that was used in Objective-C instead of python. This version takes an NSArray of NSValues that contain MKMapCoordinates, which was called for in my implementation:

#import 

+ (CLLocationCoordinate2D)centerCoordinateForCoordinates:(NSArray *)coordinateArray {
    double x = 0;
    double y = 0;
    double z = 0;

    for(NSValue *coordinateValue in coordinateArray) {
        CLLocationCoordinate2D coordinate = [coordinateValue MKCoordinateValue];

        double lat = GLKMathDegreesToRadians(coordinate.latitude);
        double lon = GLKMathDegreesToRadians(coordinate.longitude);
        x += cos(lat) * cos(lon);
        y += cos(lat) * sin(lon);
        z += sin(lat);
    }

    x = x / (double)coordinateArray.count;
    y = y / (double)coordinateArray.count;
    z = z / (double)coordinateArray.count;

    double resultLon = atan2(y, x);
    double resultHyp = sqrt(x * x + y * y);
    double resultLat = atan2(z, resultHyp);

    CLLocationCoordinate2D result = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(GLKMathRadiansToDegrees(resultLat), GLKMathRadiansToDegrees(resultLon));
    return result;
}