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VincentyDirectInverse

Vincenty Direct and Inverse geodetic computations

Thaddeus Vincenty has put a final point and solved this complex problem in 1975 https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/inverse.pdf

The direct problem:

From a geodetic position known in latitude and longitude Given a geodetic azimuth (bearing) and distance to another point Compute the geodetic latitude and longitude of the second point

The inverse problem:

From two geodetic positions known in latitude and longitude Compute the direct and inverse azimuths (bearings) and distance

Notes:

Seems easy, but the computation has to be made on the surface of an ellipsoid, and be accurate to the positional fraction of a millimeter, even at very long distances. The direct computation requires a small iteration to converge with sufficient accuracy.

I have made my "end of studies" thesis on Vincenty's method, comparing it at the same time to another method from Hradilek.

Originally written for the TI-58 calculator in 1978, I needed them on a flight navigation project, so I decided to code them in Python.

Here we go. Simple to use. Ellipsoid parameters can be changed easily within the code or transferred if needed through the provided parameters. The formulas have been tested and work fine with a few geodetic positions, hoping they also work in all World areas, but did not test all cases.

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