Haversine Formula in Python (Bearing and Distance between two GPS points)

Question

Problem

I would like to know how to get the distance and bearing between 2 GPS points. I have researched on the haversine formula. Someone told me

Answer 1

Here are two functions to calculate distance and bearing, which are based on the code in previous messages and https://gist.github.com/jeromer/2005586 (added tuple type for geographical points in lat, lon format for both functions for clarity). I tested both functions and they seem to work right.

#coding:UTF-8
from math import radians, cos, sin, asin, sqrt, atan2, degrees

def haversine(pointA, pointB):

    if (type(pointA) != tuple) or (type(pointB) != tuple):
        raise TypeError("Only tuples are supported as arguments")

    lat1 = pointA[0]
    lon1 = pointA[1]

    lat2 = pointB[0]
    lon2 = pointB[1]

    # convert decimal degrees to radians 
    lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2 = map(radians, [lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2]) 

    # haversine formula 
    dlon = lon2 - lon1 
    dlat = lat2 - lat1 
    a = sin(dlat/2)**2 + cos(lat1) * cos(lat2) * sin(dlon/2)**2
    c = 2 * asin(sqrt(a)) 
    r = 6371 # Radius of earth in kilometers. Use 3956 for miles
    return c * r


def initial_bearing(pointA, pointB):

    if (type(pointA) != tuple) or (type(pointB) != tuple):
        raise TypeError("Only tuples are supported as arguments")

    lat1 = radians(pointA[0])
    lat2 = radians(pointB[0])

    diffLong = radians(pointB[1] - pointA[1])

    x = sin(diffLong) * cos(lat2)
    y = cos(lat1) * sin(lat2) - (sin(lat1)
            * cos(lat2) * cos(diffLong))

    initial_bearing = atan2(x, y)

    # Now we have the initial bearing but math.atan2 return values
    # from -180° to + 180° which is not what we want for a compass bearing
    # The solution is to normalize the initial bearing as shown below
    initial_bearing = degrees(initial_bearing)
    compass_bearing = (initial_bearing + 360) % 360

    return compass_bearing

pA = (46.2038,6.1530)
pB = (46.449, 30.690)

print haversine(pA, pB)

print initial_bearing(pA, pB)