Java stubs for converting ECEF (Earth Centered Earth Fixed) coords to Latitude Longitude Altitude

ECEF2LLA.java

/*
*
*  ECEF - Earth Centered Earth Fixed
*   
*  LLA - Lat Lon Alt
*
*  ported from matlab code at
*  https://gist.github.com/1536054
*     and
*  https://gist.github.com/1536056
*/

// WGS84 ellipsoid constants
private final double a = 6378137; // radius
private final double e = 8.1819190842622e-2;  // eccentricity

private final double asq = Math.pow(a,2);
private final double esq = Math.pow(e,2);

private double[] ecef2lla(double[] ecef){
  double x = ecef[0];
  double y = ecef[1];
  double z = ecef[2];

  double b = Math.sqrt( asq * (1-esq) );
  double bsq = Math.pow(b,2);
  double ep = Math.sqrt( (asq - bsq)/bsq);
  double p = Math.sqrt( Math.pow(x,2) + Math.pow(y,2) );
  double th = Math.atan2(a*z, b*p);

  double lon = Math.atan2(y,x);
  double lat = Math.atan2( (z + Math.pow(ep,2)*b*Math.pow(Math.sin(th),3) ), (p - esq*a*Math.pow(Math.cos(th),3)) );
  double N = a/( Math.sqrt(1-esq*Math.pow(Math.sin(lat),2)) );
  double alt = p / Math.cos(lat) - N;

  // mod lat to 0-2pi
  lon = lon % (2*Math.PI);

  // correction for altitude near poles left out.

  double[] ret = {lat, lon, alt};

  return ret;
}


private double[] lla2ecef(double[] lla){
  double lat = lla[0];
  double lon = lla[1];
  double alt = lla[2];

  double N = a / Math.sqrt(1 - esq * Math.pow(Math.sin(lat),2) );
  
  double x = (N+alt) * Math.cos(lat) * Math.cos(lon);
  double y = (N+alt) * Math.cos(lat) * Math.sin(lon);
  double z = ((1-esq) * N + alt) * Math.sin(lat);

  double[] ret = {x, y, z};
  return ret;
}

Hey! You're missing the Math class name for the sqrt operation at line 28.
Thanks for your code!

Edit, added question: what units are you considering? earth radius is 6371 in km. :/

Thanks for the catch. I updated line 28.

As for the radius, 6378137 meters is the equatorial radius of the earth ellipsoid as defined by the WGS-84 model.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGS-84#A_new_World_Geodetic_System:_WGS_84

Hello,
Do you know and can you point some articles or literature where there is described this conversion?
I need it to my thesis and I have problem with finding something usefull :(

Note that lat and lon are in radians, not degrees! Use Math.toDegress() and Math.toRadians().

pthon code
def lla2ecef(lon,lat,alt):
a = 6378137
e = 8.1819190842622e-2

esq=pow(e,2)


N = a / sqrt(1 - esq * pow(sin(radians(lat)), 2))


x = (N + alt) * cos(radians(lat)) * cos(radians(lon))

y = (N + alt) * cos(radians(lat) )* sin(radians(lon))

z = ((1 - esq) * N + alt) * sin(radians(lat))

return x,y,z

@lukkot here's a reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion#From_geodetic_to_ECEF_coordinates

The ecef2lla method cannot possibly be correct, because there is no closed form solution for this, it has to be solved iteratively. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion#From_ECEF_to_geodetic_coordinates