How do I calculate distance between two latitude, longitude points in miles using standard SQL without trigonometry?

Question

A [mcve] is a great start when asking SQL questions. Don't forget to include table definition(s). — jarlh, Jan 12 '22 at 17:40
I'd also recommend you to include the distance formula _you_ want to use. — jarlh, Jan 12 '22 at 17:41

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 12 '22 at 18:28

Without trig you get incorrect results. Find an explanation with answer, formula and example here:

https://jonisalonen.com/2014/computing-distance-between-coordinates-can-be-simple-and-fast

Approximation without precision and trig

DECLARE @SqDegreeLatInMiles  AS REAL = 4774.81
DECLARE @SqDegreeLongInMiles AS REAL = 2809

-- VA, Zip=23452
DECLARE @Point_A_Lat AS REAL = 36.8366
DECLARE @Point_A_Long AS REAL = 76.0952

-- TX, Zip=75225
DECLARE @Point_B_Lat AS REAL = 32.8644
DECLARE @Point_B_Long AS REAL = 96.7946

DECLARE @DistanceInMiles AS REAL

SET @DistanceInMiles = SQRT (@SqDegreeLatInMiles * POWER(@Point_A_Lat - @Point_B_Lat,2) + @SqDegreeLongInMiles * POWER(@Point_A_Long - @Point_B_Long,2))
PRINT @DistanceInMiles

How do I calculate distance between two latitude, longitude points in miles using standard SQL without trigonometry?

1 Answers1