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The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path between the two points on the surface of the sphere.
The great circle distance, \(d\), is the shorter arc joining two points on a great circle. We can also consider the chord (straight line) joining the two points, and we let its length be \(C\).
Learn how to use the haversine formula to calculate the great-circle distance and bearing between two latitude/longitude points on a spherical earth. See the formulas, code fragments, examples and historical notes on this web page.
The haversine formula determines the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere given their longitudes and latitudes. Important in navigation, it is a special case of a more general formula in spherical trigonometry, the law of haversines, that relates the sides and angles of spherical triangles.
Learn what is a great circle, the largest circle on a sphere, and how to calculate its distance using a formula. See two examples of using the formula with different coordinates and radii.
Learn how to calculate the great circle distance between two points on a sphere using the haversine formula. Explore four different approaches based on coordinates, vectors, spherical trigonometry and haversines.
In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geometry are the natural analog of straight lines in Euclidean space.
