Converting lat lon into co-ordinates (in ft of m)

Question

I have a set of latitude and longitude of a series of points which specific the trajectory of a vehicle. If I consider the first point as the origin (0,0), is it possible to convert the trajectory into a set of points with co-ordinates as (X ft, Y ft)? If yes how?

I would prefer to have the mathematical formula if possible.

I also have a related question. Does the conversion depend on the map projection I am interested in? If yes, the projection I would be interested in is Mercator projection with datum of WGS84.

Answer 1

You don't have FME do you? The CommonLocalReprojector transformer would do what you want, albeit that 0,0 would be in the centre and the data would need offsetting.

From the help:

CommonLocalReprojector: Reprojects a set of features to a local coordinate system with units of meters centered on the bounding box of the features. This transformer is useful if you need a number of features reprojected into the same local coordinate system.

Answer 2

I got this BUT only thing is that I do not know how to automate it. I used it manually and it worked just fine. I am putting it as answer for it may be useful to someone.

If someone can automate it, it would be great.

EDIT

See this answer