How to calculate the distance between two GPS coordinates without using Google Maps API?

Question

I\'m wondering if there\'s a way to calculate the distance of two GPS coordinates without relying on Google Maps API.

My app may receive the coordinates in float or

Answer 1

You can use the geokit ruby gem. It does these calculations internally, but also supports resolving addresses via google and other services if you need it to.

require 'geokit'

current_location = Geokit::LatLng.new(37.79363,-122.396116)
destination = "37.786217,-122.41619"
current_location.distance_to(destination) 

# Returns distance in miles: 1.211200074136264

You can also find out the bearing_to (direction expressed as a float in degrees between 0-360) and midpoint_to (returns an object you can run .latitude and .longitude methods on).