Re: [Omaha.pm] Geo::Distance (Was: DBH statement isn't closing)

["Mike Hostetler" <hostetlerm@gmail.com>]

On 9/21/06, Sean Baker <pbaker@omnihotels.com> wrote:
> Very cool stuff!  I used the gcd algorithm quite a while ago to do zone
> billing for a telecom company.  It worked well if the city long/lats
> didn't cross the equator. It didn't account for the bulge in the Earth.
[snip]

That's a big problem with any such equation -- they all assume the
Earth is a perfect sphere, in which it is not.  But trying to figure
out the *actual* distance . . . well, down that road lies madness.

Geo::Distance has a lot of different equations you can use.  By
default, it uses the Haversine Formula which seems to work pretty
well.

Jay and I are both into geocaching . . .which is why I'm mucking with
this and why I thought Jay would be interested.

> Too bad I didn't know Perl then, it would have been much easier.

:)

Perl has a lot of cool GIS stuff . . . anything under the Geo:: can be
very handy.

--
Mike Hostetler
http://mike.hostetlerhome.com/