[Proj] Geo Transfoms and calculations

[Till]

Thanks for your answers Gerald,

Is this library already available, or it is a brand new product that can be
only tested after being released? (Next week, obviously)

As far as I have understood, you're working on libproj4 project. Will the
'geod_*' stuff be associated/related to it?
By now, we only worked with proj.4, that means using proj.dll. This is the
only library we managed to compile with Visual C++. We failed with libproj4,
which looks as linux only.
But we're quite happy with it, proj.dll fits properly our needs, except
we're missing those distance calculation functions.

What is your recommendation regarding this?
How should the 'geod_*' set work in conjunction with it?

Thanks for your feedback.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Gerald I. Evenden [mailto:geraldi.evenden at gmail.com] 
Envoyé : mardi 30 décembre 2008 01:55
À : proj at lists.maptools.org
Cc : Till
Objet : Re: [Proj] Geo Transfoms and calculations

Your timing could not be much better.

I have almost completed a library set 'geod_*' that covers geodesic 
computations for both the spherical and elliptical earth.  I expect to have
a 
first release out by this weekend as I am only doing finishing touches on
the 
ellps= section (a user program version works right now with the libproj4 
library).  The ellipse method is based upon the NOAA routines rather than
the 
USNOO process that I used in 'geod'---accuracy is also a little better.

The release comes with Doxygen html documentation (~2mb), of all the code
and 
a self documenting user program 'geodesic'---that is: you type "geodesic"
and 
at the prompt "geod:" type "help."  Maybe a little more help on the Doxygen 
front page. ;-)

Also, see note imbedded below and geodesic example at end.

On Monday 29 December 2008 7:07:28 pm Till wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> We're quite new to geographic fundamentals, but it sounds like PROJ.4 is a
> pretty good base where to find proper 'geographic related' libraries.
>
> We're currently working on graphic (2D/3D) tools for displaying accurate
> GPS information and our goal is to rely on standard systems, avoiding to
> 'reinvent the wheel', feeling it should be much of a benefit if we could
> share with the community.
>
> By now, we were able to properly use the 'proj' API in order to match
> different projection schemes into 'Cartesian' (3D space) coordinates, and
> also mix 2D representations.
>
> However, distance calculation seems to be another issue.
>
> While we could find ways to implement a reasonable calculation
>
> (for instance :
>
> gpsDist(PointF P1, PointF P2)
>
> {
>
This is a common equation for spherical geodesic but it is not very good for

small values of the argument because acos looses precision.  All geodesic 
code I have used employs Snyder's recommended variation as in the geod_* 
library.

> return Acos( sin(P1.y)*sin(P2.y) + cos(P1.y)*cos(P2.y)*cos(P1.x-P2.x) ) *
> earthRadius;
>
> }),
>
> our approach considers it could be concentrated on the same system, in
> order to provide consistency (at least sharing 'earthRadius' values).
>
> In that manner, we failed to use 'geod' or affiliate as API.
>
> We have to say that we're developing on Windows platform (VS 2005), and
> we're lacking sample/tutorial/help for such a use.
>
> Any help in that manner would be welcome.
>
>
>
> PS: Is there a proper (recommended) way to increase 'ellipsoid'
definitions
> (increasing or modifying  'pj_ellps' table, for instance changing
> "sphere"'s radius)?

Note that both traditional proj DMS and GRASS colon format geographic 
coordinates are read.

gie at charon:~/CARTO/geodesic/src$ ./geodesic
geod: help
command: earth -- set earth shape parameters
command: show -- display [arc|earth] structure contents
command: p1 -- set point 1 [lon lat]
command: p2 -- set point 2 [lon lat]
command: open -- open output file
command: vector -- set vector [distance azimuth
command: line -- compute geodesic line
command: circle -- compute circle or arc [2nd azi. del azi.]
command: prec -- set display precision
command: quit -- exit program
command: help -- show this list

For more detailed assistance type "<command> help" for
more detailed information on that command.
geod: earth ellps=WGS84
geod: p1 100d14'33.2W 30d15
geod: p2 -90:17:55 44d7'30n
    Point 1 Lon:  100d14'33.20000"W  Lat:   30d15'00.00000"N  height: 0.000
    Point 2 Lon:   90d17'55.00000"W  Lat:   44d07'30.00000"N  height: 0.000
    Azimuth p1->p2: 26d55'6.60"
    Distance: 1771916.625
    Azimuth p2->p1: 212d58'58.59"
geod: quit
geodesic at completion.   G'day mate!
gie at charon:~/CARTO/geodesic/src$

-- 
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due
to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
-- Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British psychologist