The shortest distance between two points (i.e., the 'great-circle-distance' or 'as the crow flies'), according to the 'haversine method'. This method assumes a spherical earth, ignoring ellipsoidal effects.
distHaversine(p1, p2, r=6378137)longitude/latitude of point(s). Can be a vector of two numbers, a matrix of 2 columns (first one is longitude, second is latitude) or a SpatialPoints* object
as above; or missing, in which case the sequential distance between the points in p1 is computed
radius of the earth; default = 6378137 m
Vector of distances in the same unit as r (default is meters)
The Haversine ('half-versed-sine') formula was published by R.W. Sinnott in 1984, although it has been known for much longer. At that time computational precision was lower than today (15 digits precision). With current precision, the spherical law of cosines formula appears to give equally good results down to very small distances. If you want greater accuracy, you could use the distVincentyEllipsoid method.
Sinnott, R.W, 1984. Virtues of the Haversine. Sky and Telescope 68(2): 159
distGeo, distCosine, distVincentySphere, distVincentyEllipsoid, distMeeus
# NOT RUN {
distHaversine(c(0,0),c(90,90))
# }
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