[R] distances from points to line

[Hisaji ONO]

Hi.

>
> I now wonder, is there a function to create a line object like a
> watercourse and then calculate the distances between many points in space
> and this line?
>

 I've tried to port a fortran code of a distance from a line segment in
Bowyer, A. and Woodwark, J. (1983):"a programmer's geometry", Butterworth,
47-48,  to R function. But I know your request was calculating points
between polyline. So this function is not too enough. Just try this, if you
are interested.

#
# a function that returns a distance from a line
#
# a point coordinate: xj, yj
#
# a line segment coordinates: xk, yk, xl, yl
#
p2linedist<-function(xj, yj, xk, yk, xl, yl){
 xkj<- xk - xj
 ykj<- yk - yj
 xlk<- xl - xk
 ylk<- yl - yk

 denom <- xlk * xlk + ylk * ylk

 distance <- 0

 if(denom < 1.0e-6){
  sqrt(xkj*xkj + ykj*ykj) # segments ends coinside
 }else{
  t <- -(xkj*xlk + ykj*ylk)/denom
  t <- min(max(t,0),1)
  xfac <- xkj + t * xlk
  yfac <- ykj + t * ylk
  sqrt(xfac*xfac + yfac*yfac)
 }
}




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