crossfix

Intersection points for pairs of great circles or small circles

Syntax

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az)

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az_radius,ind)

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az_radius,ind,latEstimate,lonEstimate)

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(___,units)

mat = crossfix(___)

Description

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az) finds the intersection points of pairs of great circles. Define each great circle by specifying the latitude lat and longitude lon of a point on the circle and the azimuth az at that point.

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az_radius,ind) enables you to find the intersection points of great circles and small circles. When an element of ind is 0, the corresponding elements of lat and lon define the center of a small circle, and az_radius specifies the radius of the small circle. When an element of ind is 1, the corresponding element of lat and lon define a point on a great circle, and az_radius specifies the azimuth.

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az_radius,ind,latEstimate,lonEstimate) finds the intersection point closest to the point specified by latEstimate and lonEstimate.

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(___,units) specifies the angle units for the coordinates, azimuth, and radii, in addition to any combination of input arguments from the previous syntaxes.

mat = crossfix(___) returns the latitudes and longitudes of the intersection points as the matrix mat.

Examples

Find Intersections of Great Circles

Define three great circles by specifying a point on each circle and the azimuth at each point.

lat = [0 5 0];
lon = [0 5 10];
az = [80 240 310];

Find the intersections of the great circles.

[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,az)

latIntersect = 3×2

    0.9022   -0.9022
    1.4526   -1.4526
   -4.6654    4.6654

lonIntersect = 3×2

  174.8759   -5.1241
    8.2683 -171.7317
 -175.5811    4.4189

Visualize the results. First, generate the latitude and longitude coordinates of each great circle.

[lat1,lon1] = track1(lat(1),lon(1),az(1));
[lat2,lon2] = track1(lat(2),lon(2),az(2));
[lat3,lon3] = track1(lat(3),lon(3),az(3));

Display the great circles on a globe.

uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif,"Terrain","none");
hold(g,"on")

geoplot3(g,lat1,lon1,0,"y")
geoplot3(g,lat2,lon2,0,"y")
geoplot3(g,lat3,lon3,0,"y")

Display the intersection points. Note that there are three additional intersection points on the other side of the globe.

geoplot3(g,reshape(latIntersect,[6 1]),reshape(lonIntersect,[6 1]),0, ...
    "ro","LineWidth",3)

Find Intersections of Small Circles

Define three small circles by specifying their centers and radii. Specify the radii using spherical distances in degrees.

lat = [0 5 0];
lon = [0 5 10];
r = [8 8 8];

Find the intersections of the small circles. Indicate that the third argument contains radii (instead of azimuths) by specifying the fourth argument as a vector of 0 values.

ind = [0 0 0];
[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,r,ind)

latIntersect = 3×2

    7.5594   -2.5744
    6.2529   -6.2529
    7.5594   -2.5744

lonIntersect = 3×2

   -2.6260    7.5770
    5.0000    5.0000
   12.6260    2.4230

Visualize the results on a map. First, generate the latitude and longitude coordinates of each small circle.

[lat1,lon1] = scircle1(lat(1),lon(1),r(1));
[lat2,lon2] = scircle1(lat(2),lon(2),r(2));
[lat3,lon3] = scircle1(lat(3),lon(3),r(3));

Display the small circles on a map.

figure
axesm("mercator","MapLatLim",[-10 15],"MapLonLim",[-10 20])
axis off
geoshow(lat1,lon1,"DisplayType","line","Color","b","LineStyle","-")
geoshow(lat2,lon2,"DisplayType","line")
geoshow(lat3,lon3,"DisplayType","line")

Display the intersection points using magenta diamond markers.

geoshow(reshape(latIntersect,[6 1]),reshape(lonIntersect,[6 1]), ...
    "DisplayType","point","Marker","d","MarkerEdgeColor","m","MarkerFaceColor","m")

Find Intersections Closest to Estimated Point

Define three small circles by specifying their centers and radii. Specify the radii using spherical distances in degrees.

lat = [0 5 0];
lon = [0 5 10];
r = [8 8 8];

Estimate an intersection point. Then, find the intersections of the small circles that are closest to the estimated point. Indicate that the third argument contains radii (instead of azimuths) by specifying the fourth argument as a vector of 0 values.

latEstimate = 0;
lonEstimate = 5;
ind = [0 0 0];
[latIntersect,lonIntersect] = crossfix(lat,lon,r,ind,latEstimate,lonEstimate)

latIntersect = 3×1

   -2.5744
    6.2529
   -2.5744

lonIntersect = 3×1

    7.5770
    5.0000
    2.4230

Visualize the results on a map. First, generate the latitude and longitude coordinates of each small circle.

[lat1,lon1] = scircle1(lat(1),lon(1),r(1));
[lat2,lon2] = scircle1(lat(2),lon(2),r(2));
[lat3,lon3] = scircle1(lat(3),lon(3),r(3));

Display the small circles on a map.

figure
axesm("mercator","MapLatLim",[-10 15],"MapLonLim",[-10 20])
axis off
geoshow(lat1,lon1,"DisplayType","line","Color","b","LineStyle","-")
geoshow(lat2,lon2,"DisplayType","line")
geoshow(lat3,lon3,"DisplayType","line")

Display the estimated point using a black circle marker. Display the intersection points that are closest to the estimated point using magenta diamond markers.

geoshow(latEstimate,lonEstimate, ...
    "DisplayType","point","Marker","o","MarkerEdgeColor","k","MarkerFaceColor","k")
geoshow(reshape(latIntersect,[3 1]),reshape(lonIntersect,[3 1]), ...
    "DisplayType","point","Marker","d","MarkerEdgeColor","m","MarkerFaceColor","m")

Input Arguments

lat — Latitudes

n-element vector

Latitudes, specified as an n-element vector, where n is the number of circles. n must be greater than or equal to 2.

The crossfix function interprets each element of lat and lon depending on the corresponding element of ind.

• When an element of ind is 1, the corresponding elements of lat and lon define a point on a great circle. This is the default behavior.

• When an element of ind is 0, the corresponding elements of lat and lon define the center of a small circle.

The sizes of lat, lon, and az (or az_radius and ind) must match.

Data Types: double

lon — Longitudes

n-element vector

Longitudes, specified as an n-element vector, where n is the number of circles. n must be greater than or equal to 2.

The crossfix function interprets each element of lat and lon depending on the corresponding element of ind.

• When an element of ind is 1, the corresponding elements of lat and lon define a point on a great circle. This is the default behavior.

• When an element of ind is 0, the corresponding elements of lat and lon define the center of a small circle.

The sizes of lat, lon, and az (or az_radius and ind) must match.

Data Types: double

az — Great circle azimuths

n-element vector

Great circle azimuths, measured clockwise from north, specified as an n-element vector, where n is the number of circles. n must be greater than or equal to 2.

The sizes of lat, lon, and az must match.

Data Types: double

az_radius — Great circle azimuths or radii of small circles

n-element vector

Great circle azimuths or radii of small circles, specified as an n-element vector, where n is the number of circles. n must be greater than or equal to 2.

The crossfix function interprets each element of az_radius depending on the corresponding element of ind.

• When an element of ind is 1, the corresponding element of az_radius is a great circle azimuth. This is the default behavior.

• When an element of ind is 0, the corresponding element of az_radius is the radius of a small circle. Specify the radius using a spherical distance in degrees.

The sizes of lat, lon, az_radius, and ind must match.

Data Types: double

ind — Indicator for azimuths or radii

n-element vector

Indicator for azimuths or radii, specified as an n-element vector, where n is the number of circles. n must be greater than or equal to 2.

The crossfix function interprets each element of lat, lon, and az_radius depending on the corresponding element of ind.

• To indicate that lat and lon define a point along a great circle, and that az_radius is a great circle azimuth, specify the corresponding element of ind as 1. This is the default behavior.

• To indicate that lat and lon define the center of a small circle, and that az_radius the radius of the small circle, specify the corresponding element of ind as 0.

Data Types: single | double

latEstimate — Estimated latitude of intersection

scalar

Estimated latitude of intersection, specified as a scalar.

When you specify latEstimate and the crossfix function does not find an intersection, the function issues a warning.

Data Types: double

lonEstimate — Estimated longitude of intersection

scalar

Estimated longitude of intersection, specified as a scalar.

When you specify lonEstimate and the crossfix function does not find an intersection, the function issues a warning.

Data Types: double

units — Angle unit for coordinates

"degrees" (default) | "radians"

Angle unit for the coordinates, specified as one of these options:

• "degrees" — Degrees

• "radians" — Radians

Data Types: char | string

Output Arguments

latIntersect — Latitudes of intersection points

two-column matrix | column vector

Latitudes of the intersection points, returned as a two-column matrix or a column vector.

• When you do not use latEstimate and lonEstimate as input arguments, latIntersect is a two-column matrix. Each row of the matrix contains the latitude of two intersections.

• When you use latEstimate and lonEstimate as input arguments, latIntersect is a column vector. Each element of the vector contains the latitude of the intersection closest to the estimated point.

The crossfix function finds the intersection of each pair of circles. As a result, the number of rows equals nchoosek(n,2), where n is the size of lat and lon.

When a pair of circles has no intersection, the corresponding row contains NaN values.

lonIntersect — Longitudes of intersection points

two-column matrix | column vector

Longitudes of the intersection points, returned as a two-column matrix or a column vector.

• When you do not use latEstimate and lonEstimate as input arguments, lonIntersect is a two-column matrix. Each row of the matrix contains the longitude of two intersections.

• When you use latEstimate and lonEstimate as input arguments, lonIntersect is a column vector. Each element of the vector contains the longitude of the intersection closest to the estimated point.

The crossfix function finds the intersection of each pair of circles. As a result, the number of rows equals nchoosek(n,2), where n is the size of lat and lon.

When a pair of circles has no intersection, the corresponding row contains NaN values.

mat — Latitudes and longitudes of intersection points

two-column matrix

Latitudes and longitudes of the intersection points, returned as a two-column matrix or a four-column matrix equivalent to [latIntersect lonIntersect].

Tips

• To find intersection points by using rhumb line azimuths and nautical mile distances, use the navfix function.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a