Calculate Distance from GPS coordinates

I have 2 columns in a spreadsheet representing the latitude and longitude.

How can I calculate the distance for between the the gps coordinates (eg distance between row 1 and row 2) using the formula

d=ACOS(cos(RADIANS(90-Lat1))*cos(RADIANS(90-Lat2))+sin(RADIANS(90-Lat1))* sin(RADIANS(90-Lat2))*cos(RADIANS(Lon1-Lon2)))* 3958.76

 Latitude  Longitude 
 
  33.47914  -88.7943 
 
  33.47914  -88.7943 
 
  33.47915  -88.7943 
 
  33.47917  -88.7943 

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

With vector Lat and Lon, and assuming you want the distance between adjacent gps points (as opposed to the distance of each point to each other point)

d = acos(cosd(90-Lat(1:end-1)) .* cosd(90-Lat(2:end)) + sind(90-Lat(1:end-1)) .* sind(90-Lat(2:end))) .* cosd(Lon(1:end-1)-Lon(2:end)) * 3958.76;

[je]

I get an error message saying the matrix dimensions do not agree.

[Walter Roberson]

Fixed.

[je]

Thank You, Walter.

Problem solved.

Answer 2

[Mark Sherstan]

Look at this function here.

Answer 3

[MathWorks Support Team]

Tthe distance function in Mapping Toolbox is an option. This function has the benefit of being able to calculate the geodesic distance for a given Earth ellipsoid model, such as the WGS84 model which is used for GPS coordinates. For example:

lat = [33.47914 33.47914 33.47915 33.47917]; 
lon = [-88.7943 -88.7943 -88.7943 -88.7943]; 

% Use WGS84 ellipsoid model
wgs84 = wgs84Ellipsoid; 

% Calculate individual distances 
d1 = distance(lat(1),lon(1),lat(2),lon(2),wgs84); 
d2 = distance(lat(2),lon(2),lat(3),lon(3),wgs84); 
d3 = distance(lat(3),lon(3),lat(4),lon(4),wgs84); 

[Cg Gc]

I have been using this function, but my points are really close, so I am getting a distance of 0.1209. This is fine, but what are the units on this number? km? miles? feet? inches? I know how far away my points are in km, but with thousands of points and further calculations to make, I would rather do the calculations in a loop. In order to do this, I need to know the units of the answer to the distance function. It says it is degrees, but that isn't helpful for when you need to convert that to distance on the ground.