Hallo again Stuart, what makes you say that you know the distance is 1800 meters? I just measured by hand in google earth and I get the same answer as PostGIS there about 1180 meters.
I think you have been tricked by some application using web mercator projection in the first. Google earth, like PostGIS geography knows how to calculate distances on a sphere or spheroid which for instance google maps doesn't do since it is a flattened globe. HTH Nicklas On Tue, 2012-03-13 at 12:50 +0100, Nicklas Avén wrote: > Sorry, wrong from me > > Something is wrong of course if the answer is 1179 compared to 1800. My > brain was on vaccation > > /Nicklas > > > On Tue, 2012-03-13 at 12:48 +0100, Nicklas Avén wrote: > > The geography type distance calculations gives answers in meters from > > unprojected data (4326). > > > > I see no erason to belive that the postgis answer is wrong, especially > > not when Stuart says he knows the distance is 1800 meters and he gets > > 1179.61 meters from PostGIS. > > > > I don't know anything about that draft-logic site but I would definitly > > rely more on the PostGIS answer. > > > > The measurments on Bing, Google maps and so on will be wrong since the > > webmercator projection 913900 is a flattened globe. How could it be > > correct? > > > > /Nicklas > > > > > > On Tue, 2012-03-13 at 07:37 -0400, Charles Galpin wrote: > > > The distance should be in the projection units, which for 4326 is > > > decimal degrees, and if you want meters you'll need to convert the > > > results to meters. > > > > > > > > > But first, I suspect your data is not in 4326 then if you get 1179. > > > Make sure you are using the SRID when inserting them > > > > > > > > > > update address set geog=ST_GeographyFromText('POINT('|| > > > > lon||' '||lat||')',4326) where id=?; > > > Also see > > > http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/ST_Distance.html > > > hth > > > charles > > > > > > On Mar 13, 2012, at 2:58 AM, Stuart Guthrie wrote: > > > > > > > Could it be returning a distance in decimal miles? I'm out by around > > > > 1.6 - 1.6km = 1mile? > > > > > > > > On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 5:43 PM, Stuart Guthrie > > > > <stuartguth...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > OK, I'm a newbie to postgis but an old-timer with open > > > > source in general. > > > > > > > > Sorry to bother everyone but this problem is driving me a > > > > little nuts. > > > > > > > > I've bought the 'postgis in action' book and now I think I > > > > still know nothing. > > > > > > > > I'm trying to store long lats and do queries on them to > > > > establish distance and use that for reporting. > > > > > > > > I'm using this to update the table 'address' > > > > > > > > update address set geog=ST_GeographyFromText('POINT('|| > > > > lon||' '||lat||')') where id=?; > > > > > > > > the address table field 'geog' has this definition: > > > > > > > > geog geography(Point,4326) > > > > > > > > When I compare two addresses that I know are around 1800m > > > > apart I get this: > > > > > > > > select a.addressline2, a.suburb, ST_Y(a.geog::geometry), > > > > ST_X(a.geog::geometry), > > > > b.addressline2,b.suburb,ST_Y(b.geog::geometry), > > > > ST_X(b.geog::geometry), ST_distance(a.geog,b.geog ) from > > > > address a join address b on b.id=41491 where a.id=1238 ; > > > > > > > > addressline2 | suburb | st_y | st_x | > > > > addressline2 | suburb | st_y | st_x | > > > > st_distance > > > > > > > > ---------------+--------+-------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------------ > > > > 140 Sussex St | Sydney | -33.8692429 | 151.2036312 | 1 > > > > Riley Street | Surry Hills | -33.8726426 | 151.2157115 | > > > > 1179.61881540556 > > > > > > > > Postgis says they are 1179.61m apart. > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > postgis-users mailing list > > > postgis-users@postgis.refractions.net > > > http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > postgis-users mailing list > > postgis-users@postgis.refractions.net > > http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users > > > > > _______________________________________________ > postgis-users mailing list > postgis-users@postgis.refractions.net > http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users > _______________________________________________ postgis-users mailing list postgis-users@postgis.refractions.net http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users