I am working with a simulation of an aircraft traversing a route where the position of the aircraft and waypoints are in the form [X, Y, Z] where X and Y are the 2D Cartesian coordinates on a flat plane and Z is the altitude from that flat plane.
However, we are now implementing routes in the real world with waypoints in the form of [Lat, Lon, alt]. What are some valid ways of converting these coordinates to a Cartesian counterpart and have them exist on a flat plane?
These routes are never more than 50 miles in one direction so I dont need to convert the entire global coordinate system, just at most 50 miles worth. Additionally, I am aware that there are ways that convert to a Cartesian coordinate system for lat/lon but they always result in a [X, Y, Z] coordinate, assuming a point on a sphere in 3D space.
Hi Ellis,
I might suggest that you use a plane in which X stands for latitude, Y for longitude, and represent "isoaltitude" curves on it; that is, those curves along which the value of altitude does not vary as the X and Y coordinate pairs change.
PS why didn't you use X for longitude and Y for latitude?
Best,
Claudio
Claudio F. Nicolosi The aircraft simulation was not created by myself so I have little control over it. also the way the simulation is set up is that moving 1 unit in either the x or y direction = 1meter.
Ellis Thompson ok so you can plot in X and Y axis the latitude and longitude respectively, and plot curves of different altitudes. So your Cartesian plane will have several curves, with each curve referring to a specific altitude. You could, say, use 10 curves going from 0 meters altitude (sea level) to 10000 meters altitude, with steps between each curve of 1000 meters.
I hope I have been helpful to you!
PS probably the aircraft simulation used that convention for latitude and longitude for mere reasons of matrix calculation
Best,
Claudio