How do I calculate the angle in degrees between the coordinates of two POIs (points of interest) on an iPhone map application?
I'm guessing you try to calculate the degrees between the coordinates of two points of interest (POI).
Calculating the arc of a great circle:
+(float) greatCircleFrom:(CLLocation*)first
to:(CLLocation*)second {
int radius = 6371; // 6371km is the radius of the earth
float dLat = second.coordinate.latitude-first.coordinate.latitude;
float dLon = second.coordinate.longitude-first.coordinate.longitude;
float a = pow(sin(dLat/2),2) + cos(first.coordinate.latitude)*cos(second.coordinate.latitude) * pow(sin(dLon/2),2);
float c = 2 * atan2(sqrt(a),sqrt(1-a));
float d = radius * c;
return d;
}
Another option is to pretend you are on cartesian coordinates (faster but not without error on long distances):
+(float)angleFromCoordinate:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)first
toCoordinate:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)second {
float deltaLongitude = second.longitude - first.longitude;
float deltaLatitude = second.latitude - first.latitude;
float angle = (M_PI * .5f) - atan(deltaLatitude / deltaLongitude);
if (deltaLongitude > 0) return angle;
else if (deltaLongitude < 0) return angle + M_PI;
else if (deltaLatitude < 0) return M_PI;
return 0.0f;
}
If you want the result in degrees instead radians, you have to apply the following conversion:
#define RADIANS_TO_DEGREES(radians) ((radians) * 180.0 / M_PI)