edu.nrao.sss.geom
Interface SphericalPosition

All Superinterfaces:

Cloneable

All Known Subinterfaces:

SkyPosition

All Known Implementing Classes:

EarthPosition, EphemerisTable, Orbit, PolynomialPosition, PolynomialPositionTable, SimpleSkyPosition, SolarSystemBodyPosition

public interface SphericalPosition
extends Cloneable

A point in three dimensional space expressed in terms of latitude, longitude, and distance from an origin.

Version Info:

$Revision: 1118 $

$Date: 2008-02-26 10:52:29 -0700 (Tue, 26 Feb 2008) $

$Author: dharland $ (last person to modify)

Since:

2006-06-07

Author:

David M. Harland

Method Summary

SphericalPosition	clone() Returns a copy of this position.
Angle	getAngularSeparation(SphericalPosition other) Calculates the current angular separation between this position and other.
Distance	getDistance() Returns the current distance of this position from an origin.
Distance	getDistanceUncertainty() Returns the uncertainty in the distance of this position.
Latitude	getLatitude() Returns the current latitude of this position.
Latitude	getLatitudeUncertainty() Returns the uncertainty in the latitude of this position.
Longitude	getLongitude() Returns the current longitude of this position.
Longitude	getLongitudeUncertainty() Returns the uncertainty in the longitude of this position.

Method Detail

getLongitude

Longitude getLongitude()

Returns the current longitude of this position.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal longitudes, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the current longitude of this position.

getLatitude

Latitude getLatitude()

Returns the current latitude of this position.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal latitudes, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the current latitude of this position.

getDistance

Distance getDistance()

Returns the current distance of this position from an origin.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal distances, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the current distance of this position from an origin.

getLongitudeUncertainty

Longitude getLongitudeUncertainty()

Returns the uncertainty in the longitude of this position.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal uncertainties, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the uncertainty in the longitude of this position.

getLatitudeUncertainty

Latitude getLatitudeUncertainty()

Returns the uncertainty in the latitude of this position.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal uncertainties, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the uncertainty in the latitude of this position.

getDistanceUncertainty

Distance getDistanceUncertainty()

Returns the uncertainty in the distance of this position.

Classes that implement this interface are free to choose whether to return a reference to their internal uncertainties, or to provide copies thereof. This means that clients of this interface should not write code that manipulates the returned object and relies on those changes being reflected in this object, unless they know they are using an implementation that returns internal references.

Returns:

the uncertainty in the distance of this position.

getAngularSeparation

Angle getAngularSeparation(SphericalPosition other)

Calculates the current angular separation between this position and other.

The distances of the positions from the center of the sphere are not considered. The returned angle is the smallest possible such angle. It is the angular size of the arc of a great circle that passes through both the ray from the orgin to this position and the ray from the origin to other.

The returned value is never negative. This means that the returned angle does not contain directional information. That is, the angle from A to B is exactly equal to the angle from B to A.

Parameters:

other - a position from which this one is separated by the returned angle.

Returns:

the angle of separation between this position and other.

clone

SphericalPosition clone()

Returns a copy of this position.

Returns:

a copy of this position.