How can I measure distance and create a bounding box based on two latitude+longitude points in Java?

Question

I am wanting to find the distance between two different points. This I know can be accomplished with the great circle distance. http://www.meridianworlddata.com/Distance-calculation.asp

Once done, with a point and distance I would like to find the point that distance north, and that distance east in order to create a box around the point.

Answer 1

Here is a Java implementation of Haversine formula. I use this in a project to calculate distance in miles between lat/longs.

public static double distFrom(double lat1, double lng1, double lat2, double lng2) {     double earthRadius = 3958.75; // miles (or 6371.0 kilometers)     double dLat = Math.toRadians(lat2-lat1);     double dLng = Math.toRadians(lng2-lng1);     double sindLat = Math.sin(dLat / 2);     double sindLng = Math.sin(dLng / 2);     double a = Math.pow(sindLat, 2) + Math.pow(sindLng, 2)             * Math.cos(Math.toRadians(lat1)) * Math.cos(Math.toRadians(lat2));     double c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));     double dist = earthRadius * c;      return dist;     } 

Answer 2

Or you could use SimpleLatLng. Apache 2.0 licensed and used in one production system that I know of: mine.

Short story:

I was searching for a simple geo library and couldn't find one to fit my needs. And who wants to write and test and debug these little geo tools over and over again in every application? There's got to be a better way!

So SimpleLatLng was born as a way to store latitude-longitude data, do distance calculations, and create shaped boundaries.

I know I'm two years too late to help the original poster, but my aim is to help the people like me who find this question in a search. I would love to have some people use it and contribute to the testing and vision of this little lightweight utility.