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;
}

在SQL Server 2008中使用地理类型非常容易做到这一点。

SELECT geography::Point(lat1, lon1, 4326).STDistance(geography::Point(lat2, lon2, 4326))
-- computes distance in meters using eliptical model, accurate to the mm

4326是WGS84椭球地球模型的SRID

基于Roman Makarov对这个线程的回复的Java版本的Haversine算法

public class HaversineAlgorithm {

    static final double _eQuatorialEarthRadius = 6378.1370D;
    static final double _d2r = (Math.PI / 180D);

    public static int HaversineInM(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2) {
        return (int) (1000D * HaversineInKM(lat1, long1, lat2, long2));
    }

    public static double HaversineInKM(double lat1, double long1, double lat2, double long2) {
        double dlong = (long2 - long1) * _d2r;
        double dlat = (lat2 - lat1) * _d2r;
        double a = Math.pow(Math.sin(dlat / 2D), 2D) + Math.cos(lat1 * _d2r) * Math.cos(lat2 * _d2r)
                * Math.pow(Math.sin(dlong / 2D), 2D);
        double c = 2D * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1D - a));
        double d = _eQuatorialEarthRadius * c;

        return d;
    }

}

Scala版本

  def deg2rad(deg: Double) = deg * Math.PI / 180.0

  def rad2deg(rad: Double) = rad / Math.PI * 180.0

  def getDistanceMeters(lat1: Double, lon1: Double, lat2: Double, lon2: Double) = {
    val theta = lon1 - lon2
    val dist = Math.sin(deg2rad(lat1)) * Math.sin(deg2rad(lat2)) + Math.cos(deg2rad(lat1)) *
      Math.cos(deg2rad(lat2)) * Math.cos(deg2rad(theta))
    Math.abs(
      Math.round(
        rad2deg(Math.acos(dist)) * 60 * 1.1515 * 1.609344 * 1000)
    )
  }