这段Lua代码改编自维基百科和Robert Lipe的GPSbabel工具:

local EARTH_RAD = 6378137.0 
  -- earth's radius in meters (official geoid datum, not 20,000km / pi)

local radmiles = EARTH_RAD*100.0/2.54/12.0/5280.0;
  -- earth's radius in miles

local multipliers = {
  radians = 1, miles = radmiles, mi = radmiles, feet = radmiles * 5280,
  meters = EARTH_RAD, m = EARTH_RAD, km = EARTH_RAD / 1000, 
  degrees = 360 / (2 * math.pi), min = 60 * 360 / (2 * math.pi)
}

function gcdist(pt1, pt2, units) -- return distance in radians or given units
  --- this formula works best for points close together or antipodal
  --- rounding error strikes when distance is one-quarter Earth's circumference
  --- (ref: wikipedia Great-circle distance)
  if not pt1.radians then pt1 = rad(pt1) end
  if not pt2.radians then pt2 = rad(pt2) end
  local sdlat = sin((pt1.lat - pt2.lat) / 2.0);
  local sdlon = sin((pt1.lon - pt2.lon) / 2.0);
  local res = sqrt(sdlat * sdlat + cos(pt1.lat) * cos(pt2.lat) * sdlon * sdlon);
  res = res > 1 and 1 or res < -1 and -1 or res
  res = 2 * asin(res);
  if units then return res * assert(multipliers[units])
  else return res
  end
end

我猜你想让它沿着地球的曲率运动。你的两点和地心在一个平面上。地球的中心是这个平面上的圆心，这两个点(大致)在这个圆的周长上。由此你可以通过求一点到另一点的角度来计算距离。

如果点的高度不一样，或者如果你需要考虑地球不是一个完美的球体，这就有点困难了。

对于java

public static double degreesToRadians(double degrees) {
    return degrees * Math.PI / 180;
}

public static double distanceInKmBetweenEarthCoordinates(Location location1, Location location2) {
    double earthRadiusKm = 6371;

    double dLat = degreesToRadians(location2.getLatitude()-location1.getLatitude());
    double dLon = degreesToRadians(location2.getLongitude()-location1.getLongitude());

    double lat1 = degreesToRadians(location1.getLatitude());
    double lat2 = degreesToRadians(location2.getLatitude());

    double a = Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) +
            Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.cos(lat1) * Math.cos(lat2);
    double c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
    return earthRadiusKm * c;
}

这是我在Elixir中的实现

defmodule Geo do
  @earth_radius_km 6371
  @earth_radius_sm 3958.748
  @earth_radius_nm 3440.065
  @feet_per_sm 5280

  @d2r :math.pi / 180

  def deg_to_rad(deg), do: deg * @d2r

  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :km), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_km
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :sm), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_sm
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :nm), do: haversine(p1, p2) * @earth_radius_nm
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :m), do: great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :km) * 1000
  def great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :ft), do: great_circle_distance(p1, p2, :sm) * @feet_per_sm

  @doc """
  Calculate the [Haversine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haversine_formula)
  distance between two coordinates. Result is in radians. This result can be
  multiplied by the sphere's radius in any unit to get the distance in that unit.
  For example, multiple the result of this function by the Earth's radius in
  kilometres and you get the distance between the two given points in kilometres.
  """
  def haversine({lat1, lon1}, {lat2, lon2}) do
    dlat = deg_to_rad(lat2 - lat1)
    dlon = deg_to_rad(lon2 - lon1)

    radlat1 = deg_to_rad(lat1)
    radlat2 = deg_to_rad(lat2)

    a = :math.pow(:math.sin(dlat / 2), 2) +
        :math.pow(:math.sin(dlon / 2), 2) *
        :math.cos(radlat1) * :math.cos(radlat2)

    2 * :math.atan2(:math.sqrt(a), :math.sqrt(1 - a))
  end
end

一个T-SQL函数，我用来根据中心的距离选择记录

Create Function  [dbo].[DistanceInMiles] 
 (  @fromLatitude float ,
    @fromLongitude float ,
    @toLatitude float, 
    @toLongitude float
  )
   returns float
AS 
BEGIN
declare @distance float

select @distance = cast((3963 * ACOS(round(COS(RADIANS(90-@fromLatitude))*COS(RADIANS(90-@toLatitude))+ 
SIN(RADIANS(90-@fromLatitude))*SIN(RADIANS(90-@toLatitude))*COS(RADIANS(@fromLongitude-@toLongitude)),15)) 
)as float) 
  return  round(@distance,1)
END

一、关于“面包屑”方法

地球半径在不同的纬度上是不同的。在Haversine算法中必须考虑到这一点。 考虑轴承的变化，它将直线变成拱门(更长的) 考虑到速度变化将把拱门变成螺旋(比拱门更长或更短) 高度变化将使平面螺旋变成3D螺旋(再次变长)。这对丘陵地区非常重要。

下面是考虑#1和#2的C语言函数:

double   calcDistanceByHaversine(double rLat1, double rLon1, double rHeading1,
       double rLat2, double rLon2, double rHeading2){
  double rDLatRad = 0.0;
  double rDLonRad = 0.0;
  double rLat1Rad = 0.0;
  double rLat2Rad = 0.0;
  double a = 0.0;
  double c = 0.0;
  double rResult = 0.0;
  double rEarthRadius = 0.0;
  double rDHeading = 0.0;
  double rDHeadingRad = 0.0;

  if ((rLat1 < -90.0) || (rLat1 > 90.0) || (rLat2 < -90.0) || (rLat2 > 90.0)
              || (rLon1 < -180.0) || (rLon1 > 180.0) || (rLon2 < -180.0)
              || (rLon2 > 180.0)) {
        return -1;
  };

  rDLatRad = (rLat2 - rLat1) * DEGREE_TO_RADIANS;
  rDLonRad = (rLon2 - rLon1) * DEGREE_TO_RADIANS;
  rLat1Rad = rLat1 * DEGREE_TO_RADIANS;
  rLat2Rad = rLat2 * DEGREE_TO_RADIANS;

  a = sin(rDLatRad / 2) * sin(rDLatRad / 2) + sin(rDLonRad / 2) * sin(
              rDLonRad / 2) * cos(rLat1Rad) * cos(rLat2Rad);

  if (a == 0.0) {
        return 0.0;
  }

  c = 2 * atan2(sqrt(a), sqrt(1 - a));
  rEarthRadius = 6378.1370 - (21.3847 * 90.0 / ((fabs(rLat1) + fabs(rLat2))
              / 2.0));
  rResult = rEarthRadius * c;

  // Chord to Arc Correction based on Heading changes. Important for routes with many turns and U-turns

  if ((rHeading1 >= 0.0) && (rHeading1 < 360.0) && (rHeading2 >= 0.0)
              && (rHeading2 < 360.0)) {
        rDHeading = fabs(rHeading1 - rHeading2);
        if (rDHeading > 180.0) {
              rDHeading -= 180.0;
        }
        rDHeadingRad = rDHeading * DEGREE_TO_RADIANS;
        if (rDHeading > 5.0) {
              rResult = rResult * (rDHeadingRad / (2.0 * sin(rDHeadingRad / 2)));
        } else {
              rResult = rResult / cos(rDHeadingRad);
        }
  }
  return rResult;
}

2有一种更简单的方法，效果很好。

按平均速度。

Trip_distance = Trip_average_speed * Trip_time

由于GPS速度是由多普勒效应检测的，与[Lon,Lat]没有直接关系，如果不是主要的距离计算方法，至少可以考虑作为次要的(备份或校正)。