Re: computing geodesics, geodesic distance algorithms

In article <dmi521$m11$2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, "g.wall" <wallge@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> does anyone know where i can find a good paper for the novice (im an EE)
> on computing geodesics, or maybe a good algorithm outline for this?
> thanks

I don't know of anything on the web that would suit your purpose. In
practical terms, computing the geodesic between two points is a very
nasty problem to solve in the general case. Computing the point that
lies at a distance from the starting point along a geodesic, given the
azimuth of the geodesic from the starting point, is easier but still
quite involved. You're looking at many hundreds of lines of code for the
latter and perhaps thousands for the former, although there are
inefficient ways to compute the first problem that don't require much
more than a solution to the second problem.

Once you have a lot of code, then you are stuck confirming your results,
which is yet more elaborate code and research. Not for the faint of
heart. If you are willing to put a lot of effort into it, then I can
supply references to professional papers in print.

daan Strebe

-- http://www.mapthematics.com/
.

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