Question

calculating the distance between gps coordinates in sql

Asked by: andieje

Hi
I need to calculate the distance between 2 gps coordinates.I don't know whether to perform this calculation in my database in sql or in my programming layer. I  have some kind to do this in vb thanks to help i received on this forum. Here is teh question
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Database/GIS_and_GPS/Q_23651016.html

I've benn looking into doing this and sql and found a post on the internet but i have no idea if the code i have found is reliable or worth pursuing. I've posted the link and i would really appreciate if anyone would look at the sql and see if it looks accurate/reliable. Any opinion as to whether the sql way of the vb way is better is also welcomed. Here is teh sql

http://mrclay.org/index.php/2008/01/16/distance-and-bearings-between-gps-coordinates-in-sql/

thanks very much in advance for any help
andrea

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-08-16 at 03:42:04ID23653293
Topic

GIS & GPS Programming

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
4

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. A script combining a map and GPS coordinates.
    …On a website for a small town in the south of Portugal [in an area yet unmapped], I have a number of holiday rental villa records in a database [PHP/MySQL]. In many cases these villas do not even have addresses but are only known by their land register number. I have now st...
  2. Find the second coordinate, given the first coordinate, di…
    For my research project, I need to obtain the Latitude and Longitude of a second coordinate, given that the first coordinate is 10 ft away and with the bearings known. I have gone through the GPS forum, but I do not find a readily usable solution. In terms of accuracies, my G...
  3. Java GIS/GPS application
    I have a Java application in which I need to add a map with a coordinate system of the world. I will be reading data from a GPS unit and then updating the vehicle's location on the map and possibly tracking it. I'm looking for an SDK which I can use to provide most of this f...
  4. How do you calculate the distance and bearing using 2 gp…
    I am developing spreadsheets for pilots and need to calculate the distance and bearing from one gps coordinate to another.
  5. GPS coordinate conversion
    Hi, Is this format familiar for anyone: ( 2C736173, 2C103816)? If it is a known GPS coordinate format, how to convert it to a (LAT, LON) coordinate? Thanks, CC

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: CristopherJonesPosted on 2008-08-16 at 16:35:01ID: 22245577

As far as I can tell both code snippet sets look fine, I would definitely do testing once you have the code in place :).

As far as whether to go with SQL server or Programming, I would say if you are going to use the DB in your Application, and it will be available for the end users, do the calculation in sql server,

Reasoning being, the calculation is a fairly fast one so unless you will be doing THOUSANDS of these for a user at one time(Single Function Call), the load will be minimal on the server, secondly, it's always easier to change the calculations you have if they are in the SQL server as opposed to your code, so say you had to go back in and change the Radius of the Earth calculation, instead of changing your app you just change the function / stored procedure and everything is DONE.

Now, if you plan on doing Lots of these calculations (seperate function calls) and you have integrated this calculation all over the place, say for 500 points on a map or some such, you may as well move it into the application, because the communication lag for SQL response will eat you up after just a few calls to the function.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Cris

 

by: mrfixit22Posted on 2008-08-23 at 07:44:00ID: 22297207

First, of all, you need to make sure your calculator or computer
is using degrees, not radians, to figure out the Sine, Cosine, and ArcCosine
functions.  If you're using a calculator or computer that uses radians, then
use a different version of the formula:

Arccos[Cos[a1] Cos[b1] Cos[a2] Cos[b2] + Cos[a1] Sin[b1] Cos[a2] Sin[b2]
    + Sin[a1] Sin[a2]] * r

Also, keep in mind that these formulae don't take into account the squashed
nature of the earth.  As you may know, the earth is kind of fat around the
equator, as a result of the centrifugal force it gets from spinning on its
axis.  So that will throw a little error into these calculations.  I've
never tried to come up with a formula that takes the squashing into account,
and I suspect it might be hard.


ALso here is link for distance calculator http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlongdist.html

 

by: BR14Posted on 2008-08-26 at 03:12:01ID: 22312996

You do not say which database you are using?  Several modern databases have built-in GIS functionality.  So depending on your database no coding may be necessary.

If you are using Oracle, read up on Locator (free) or Spatial ($$$).  Both will have built-in ability to calculate the distance.

MS SQL 2008 now has built-in spatial functionality.  http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/spatial-data.aspx

Postgres has PostGIS which makes it spatially aware http://postgis.refractions.net/documentation/

Even MySQL has spatial support: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/spatial-extensions.html


You don't state much information on the type of system you are building, but I would almost always do this processing on the database (assuming the server can handle the load).  

If it does create an unacceptable load on the database server, take it client side and use the Haversine formula as stated in your previous question.

 

by: andiejePosted on 2009-05-28 at 08:01:11ID: 31487217

many thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...