crossfix

Intersection points for pairs of great circles or small circles

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    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.

    example

    [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.

    example

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

    example

    [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

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    Open Live Script

    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)

    Open Live Script

    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")

    Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains 4 objects of type line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers

    Open Live Script

    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")

    Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains 5 objects of type line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers

    Input Arguments

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    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

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

    • "degrees" — Degrees

    • "radians" — Radians

    Data Types: char | string

    Output Arguments

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    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.

    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.

    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

    See Also

    Functions