distRhumb {geosphere}

Distance along a rhumb line

Description

A rhumb line (loxodrome) is a path of constant bearing (direction), which crosses all meridians at the same angle.

Usage

distRhumb(p1, p2, r=6378137)

Arguments

p1

longitude/latitude of point(s). Can be a vector of two numbers, a matrix of 2 columns (first one is longitude, second is latitude) or a SpatialPoints* object

p2

as above; or missing, in which case the sequential distance between the points in p1 is computed

r

radius of the earth; default = 6378137 m

Details

Rhumb (from the Spanish word for course, 'rumbo') lines are straight lines on a Mercator projection map. They were used in navigation because it is easier to follow a constant compass bearing than to continually adjust the bearing as is needed to follow a great circle, even though rhumb lines are normally longer than great-circle (orthodrome) routes. Most rhumb lines will gradually spiral towards one of the poles.

Value

distance in units of r (default=meters)

Author(s)

Robert Hijmans and Chris Veness

References

https://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html

See Also

distCosine, distHaversine, distVincentySphere, distVincentyEllipsoid

Examples

distRhumb(c(10,10),c(20,20))