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VRECKON: Find the endpoint of a geodesic on the ellipsoidal earth

12 Nov 2007 (Updated 13 Nov 2007)

No BSD License

Obtains a final location on ellipsoidal earth, given a start point, an azimuth and a distance.

File Information

Description

This function uses the Vincenty direct algorithm to solve the "forward geodesic problem," which is the problem of computing the endpoint of a geodesic (shortest-distance) path on the ellipsoidal earth, given the start point, a path length, and a starting azimuth. This process is also called "reckoning."

In 1975, Vincenty published a rapidly converging algorithm for this calculation. Since then, his algorithm has since seen significant implementation in geodesy and engineering. The algorithm is precise to within a few millimeters. Please see code comments for references.

Michael Kleder, Nov 2007

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the following in the creation of this submission:
Vectorized geodetic distance and azimuth on the WGS84 earth ellipsoid

MATLAB release

MATLAB 7.4 (R2007a)

Tags for This File
Everyone's Tags	direct, earth, ellipsoid, geodesic, geodetic, vdist, vincenty
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Comments and Ratings (1)
27 Nov 2007	R Calabretta	Very useful tool for evaluating Required Navigation Performance (RNP) algorithms. Thank you Michael. I appreciate the work you are doing in this area.

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Tag Activity for this File
Tag	Applied By	Date/Time
vdist	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
direct	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
geodesic	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
geodetic	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
ellipsoid	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
earth	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38
vincenty	Michael Kleder	22 Oct 2008 09:34:38

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