Haversine Distance

Haversine distance measures the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere given their latitude and longitude coordinates. Popularized by Roger Sinnott in 1984, this formula computes the shortest distance between two points on Earth's surface, accounting for the planet's spherical geometry. It ranges from 0 (identical locations) to half the Earth's circumference. Haversine is essential for geographic information systems (GIS), location-based services, and spatial analysis.