Vincenty's Formulae - Direct Problem

Direct Problem

Given an initial point (φ1, L1) and initial azimuth, α1, and a distance, s, along the geodesic the problem is to find the end point (φ2, L2) and azimuth, α2.

Start by calculating the following:

Then, using an initial value, iterate the following equations until there is no significant change in σ:

Once σ is obtained to sufficient accuracy evaluate:

If the initial point is at the North or South pole then the first equation is indeterminate. If the initial azimuth is due East or West then the second equation is indeterminate. If a double valued atan2 type function is used then these values are usually handled correctly.

Read more about this topic:  Vincenty's Formulae

Famous quotes containing the words direct and/or problem:

    The frequency of personal questions grows in direct proportion to your increasing girth. . . . No one would ask a man such a personally invasive question as “Is your wife having natural childbirth or is she planning to be knocked out?” But someone might ask that of you. No matter how much you wish for privacy, your pregnancy is a public event to which everyone feels invited.
    Jean Marzollo (20th century)

    From cradle to grave this problem of running order through chaos, direction through space, discipline through freedom, unity through multiplicity, has always been, and must always be, the task of education, as it is the moral of religion, philosophy, science, art, politics and economy; but a boy’s will is his life, and he dies when it is broken, as the colt dies in harness, taking a new nature in becoming tame.
    Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)