find if an device is in perpendicular to the current location from ariel view / map view

Question:

A device is traveling from source to destination and has support for GPS,

we are able to locate the nearest signal using (current loc – static fixed traffic signals array)
here D1 is nearest, but we want to select D2 as it is facing our direction,

my approach is to find the perpendicular to the current location if a signal is perpendicular, then select that one, but I can’t figure out how to, thought of using another value attached to each signal called angle, which is the angle from the north ie 180 deg in our case and somehow calculate the angle of the andriod from the north and compare it. if it is opposite (180 – south , 0 – north) select that one.

using gmaps API to find the direction from source to destination and converting the string(Encoded Polyline) to lat log using python decode polyline function.)

How can I implement the above solution, is it functional, or do I have any other options

I was able to only find out this code, but it is for the angle between a straight line to the x-axis

I think math.atan2(x, y) also provides an angle, right?

import math 

def calculate_initial_compass_bearing(pointA, pointB):
    """
    Calculates the bearing between two points.
    The formulae used is the following:
        θ = atan2(sin(Δlong).cos(lat2),
                  cos(lat1).sin(lat2) − sin(lat1).cos(lat2).cos(Δlong))
    :Parameters:
      - `pointA: The tuple representing the latitude/longitude for the
        first point. Latitude and longitude must be in decimal degrees
      - `pointB: The tuple representing the latitude/longitude for the
        second point. Latitude and longitude must be in decimal degrees
    :Returns:
      The bearing in degrees
    :Returns Type:
      float
    """
    if (type(pointA) != tuple) or (type(pointB) != tuple):
        raise TypeError("Only tuples are supported as arguments")

    lat1 = math.radians(pointA[0])
    lat2 = math.radians(pointB[0])

    diffLong = math.radians(pointB[1] - pointA[1])

    x = math.sin(diffLong) * math.cos(lat2)
    y = math.cos(lat1) * math.sin(lat2) - (math.sin(lat1)
            * math.cos(lat2) * math.cos(diffLong))

    initial_bearing = math.atan2(x, y)
    #print(initial_bearing)
    # Now we have the initial bearing but math.atan2 return values
    # from -180° to + 180° which is not what we want for a compass bearing
    # The solution is to normalize the initial bearing as shown below
    initial_bearing = math.degrees(initial_bearing)
    compass_bearing = (initial_bearing + 360) % 360

    return compass_bearing
Asked By: Arshad

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Answers:

You’re assuming the phone is installed straight forward and not at an angle. That isn’t a good assumption. My phone is rarely straight forwared, its usually thrown in the center console in whatever way it lands. Or sitting on the passenger seat, same thing. A better idea would be to look at the heading the last time their speed was non-zero- that will show the direction they were going in. Of course if they made a last minute lane change it could be a bit off, but it will be more accurate.

Answered By: Gabe Sechan