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Let's say I have two geolocations at given times. How can I interpolate these two geolocation and find any location for a given time time3 in python?

time1 = '29-07-2022 22:15:00'
lat1 = 37.55
lon1 = -122.23

time2 = '29-07-2022 22:30:00'
lat2 = 40.66
lon2 = -128.99

time3 = '29-07-2022 22:20:00'
lat3 = ?
lon3 = ?
Ivan Reshetnikov
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veer7
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2 Answers2

3

The Earth is a globe and we can't just use linear interpolation by latitude and longitude.

Interpolation algorithm:

  • Get distance between start and finish
  • Get direction from start to finish
  • Calculate interpolated distance
  • Move interpolated distance from start in the same direction

Here is a code for your example. I use geographiclib package.

from geographiclib.geodesic import Geodesic
import datetime

time1 = '29-07-2022 22:15:00'
lat1 = 37.55
lon1 = -122.23

time2 = '29-07-2022 22:30:00'
lat2 = 40.66
lon2 = -128.99

time3 = '29-07-2022 22:20:00'
# lat3 = ?
# lon3 = ?

def parse_datetime(t):
    return datetime.datetime.strptime(t, '%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S')

def interpolate(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2, time1, time2, time3):
    # Parse datetime to seconds since epoch
    ts1 = parse_datetime(time1).timestamp()
    ts2 = parse_datetime(time2).timestamp()
    ts3 = parse_datetime(time3).timestamp()
    
    # Get distance and direction between initial points
    inverse_result = Geodesic.WGS84.Inverse(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2)
    distance = inverse_result['s12']
    angle = inverse_result['azi1']
    
    # Calculate new distance from the first point
    speed = distance / (ts2 - ts1)
    distance3 = speed * (ts3 - ts1)
    
    # Get new location
    direct_result = Geodesic.WGS84.Direct(lat1, lon1, angle, distance3)
    lat3 = direct_result['lat2']
    lon3 = direct_result['lon2']

    return lat3, lon3

lat3, lon3 = interpolate(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2, time1, time2, time3)

print('lat3 =', lat3) # lat3 = 38.629939149306345
print('lon3 =', lon3) # lon3 = -124.41750500988798
Ivan Reshetnikov
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1

If you have the space and time to find another space you need the velocity first, suposing your velocity is constant you can make something like this:

delta_t = t2 - t1
vx = (lat2 -  lat1) / delta_t
vy = (lon2 -  lon1) / delta_t
delta_t2 = t3 - t2
lat3 = lat1 + vx*delta_t2 
lon3 = lon1 + vy*delta_t2
Allan
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