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I am currently developing an OpenLayers mapping site. Measurements can be made using a line tool, and an area tool. Both of these are currently set to calculate geodesic measurements as outlined in the OpenLayers API.

I use geodesic measurements rather than planar measurements as during user testing people questioned the tool's measurements for distances they already knew (such as driving between towns).

A new feature of the site is for a user to be able to draw a circle on the map of a set radius. OpenLayers only allows for drawing circles using planar distances, so when a user measures the circle with the geodesic measurement tool the values do not match. In the image below the circle planar radius is 10km, but the geodesic line measurement for the diameter is 12km.

Clearly this will leave a user (and myself) wondering which is correct.

alt text

Looking at this answer it is seems most desktop GIS systems "ignore" this issue, and return planar measurements and distances. So what is the best practice in terms of user interface and accuracy to deal with planar and geodesic measurements?

Update

I found this Google example which illustrates the issue of radii and the Mercator projection:

http://maps.forum.nu/gm_sensitive_circle2.html

The JavaScript code to draw the circle is as follows:

    var lat1 = (PI/180)* center.lat(); // radians
    var lng1 = (PI/180)* center.lng(); // radians

    for (var a = 0 ; a < 361 ; a++ ) {
        var tc = (PI/180)*a;
        var y = asin(sin(lat1)*cos(d)+cos(lat1)*sin(d)*cos(tc));
        var dlng = atan2(sin(tc)*sin(d)*cos(lat1),cos(d)-sin(lat1)*sin(y));
        var x = ((lng1-dlng+PI) % (2*PI)) - PI ; // MOD function
        var point = new GLatLng(parseFloat(y*(180/PI)),parseFloat(x*(180/PI)));
        circlePoints.push(point);
        bounds.extend(point);
    }

Does this circle take the curvature of the earth into account?

Final Update

Working code posted at http://geographika.co.uk/creating-a-geodesic-circle-in-openlayers

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  • 1
    something must be wrong here. the difference can not be 20% over such short distance between the straight line and the line following the spheroid. somethig else must be involved. Nov 6, 2010 at 19:59
  • 4
    The projection is very likely Mercator, which only has true scale at the equator (generally, it is actually possible to have Mercator projections with true scale elsewhere (at a single latitude), but most global parameterizations use the equator). And the scale errors for Mercator are very high indeed (infinite, in fact, at the poles) increasing as you head north/south from the true scale latitude. Nov 6, 2010 at 22:34
  • The measurements were taken at 52 degrees North, and are indeed in the Mercator projection. So does this mean any client-side features drawn in Mercator will return very inaccurate areas and lengths unless near the equator? Nov 6, 2010 at 23:43
  • 1
    Yes that's pretty much the case, project the data to a local grid in meters or feet and all will be well.
    – Ian Turton
    Nov 7, 2010 at 16:03
  • 2
    @Paul Good call. But these data only indicate the projection is cylindrical, of which the Mercator is one. In true cylindrical projections the horizontal distortion equals sec(latitude). By this formula the distortion of 20/12.13 works out to a latitude of 52.66 degrees; that's exactly the latitude of Limerick.
    – whuber
    Jan 28, 2011 at 16:33

2 Answers 2

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If you're home-brewing in the browser, you can get a "circle" (it will not be round on the screen due to your projection; rather approximated by a polygon w/ as many points as you care to draw), use a the direct form of geodesic calculations: given a point, a direction (azimuth), and a distance it gives you the resulting point. Gory details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenty%27s_formulae#Direct_Method

Looks like someone has done a translation to JavaScript already: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong-vincenty-direct.html. Lucky you!

To finish things off:

  • Decide how chunky (# of vertices, call it n) you are willing to have the end result be.
  • Divide 360 degrees into n pieces.
  • Build a polygon by (for i in range(n): polygon.add(vincenty_direct(start_point, i * 360/n, distance)))
  • After-the-fact, possibly fix up some projection and planarisation irritations:
    • If you're using the typical web map projection, which you almost certainly are, the resulting polygon will be hugely stretched vertically if it nears a pole.
    • Similarly, if the result polygon crosses the international date line, it'll be really borked.
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OpenLayers only allows for drawing circles using planar distances

To get a geodesic circle, you could use the buffer operation in ESRI's geometry service.

...if unit is linear such as feet or meters, geodesic buffering is performed

A freely accessible one is available here.

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  • Thanks for the useful link - I'll see if I can call the service and update the feature in JavaScript. My only concern would be relying on a web service that could be turned off at any time. I presume that the geodesic buffered point would be the accurate / real 10km circle? Nov 6, 2010 at 23:24
  • The circle should be accurate, however, I'd check it using your measure tool. I think the geometry service is part of a standard arcgis server installation, so if that one gets retired there should be many more on the web to choose from. google.com/… Nov 6, 2010 at 23:40

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