Method to calculate distance between Latitude and Longitude “as crow fly’s”.

In VBA create the following functions:

Private Const C_RADIUS_EARTH_KM As Double = 6370.97327862
Private Const C_RADIUS_EARTH_MI As Double = 3958.73926185
Private Const C_PI As Double = 3.14159265358979

Function GreatCircleDistance(Latitude1 As Double, Longitude1 As Double, _
            Latitude2 As Double, Longitude2 As Double, _
            ValuesAsDecimalDegrees As Boolean, _
            ResultAsMiles As Boolean) As Double

Dim Lat1 As Double
Dim Lat2 As Double
Dim Long1 As Double
Dim Long2 As Double
Dim X As Long
Dim Delta As Double

If ValuesAsDecimalDegrees = True Then
    X = 1
Else
    X = 24
End If

' convert to decimal degrees
Lat1 = Latitude1 * X
Long1 = Longitude1 * X
Lat2 = Latitude2 * X
Long2 = Longitude2 * X

' convert to radians: radians = (degrees/180) * PI
Lat1 = (Lat1 / 180) * C_PI
Lat2 = (Lat2 / 180) * C_PI
Long1 = (Long1 / 180) * C_PI
Long2 = (Long2 / 180) * C_PI

' get the central spherical angle
Delta = ((2 * ArcSin(Sqr((Sin((Lat1 - Lat2) / 2) ^ 2) + _
    Cos(Lat1) * Cos(Lat2) * (Sin((Long1 - Long2) / 2) ^ 2)))))
    
If ResultAsMiles = True Then
    GreatCircleDistance = Delta * C_RADIUS_EARTH_MI
Else
    GreatCircleDistance = Delta * C_RADIUS_EARTH_KM
End If

End Function

Function ArcSin(X As Double) As Double
    ' VBA doesn't have an ArcSin function. Improvise.
    ArcSin = Atn(X / Sqr(-X * X + 1))
End Function

On the sheet, use the following formula to call the functions and calculate the distance between 2 sets of Latitudes and Longitudes.

=GreatCircleDistance(Latitude1, Longitude1, Latitude2, Longitude2,             ValuesAsDecimalDegrees (TRUE OR FALSE), ResultAsMiles (TRUE OR FALSE))
Source
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/LatLong.aspx

Categorized in:

Excel,

Last Update: May 13, 2024