# ========================================================= # calculate the number of feet and meters in degree or # fraction of a degree arc given the earth's circumference # --------------------------------------------------------- # the calculations assume the earth is a perfect sphere # (the earth is a pear shaped oblate spheroid) # ========================================================= # -- constants CIR = 24901.0 # circumference of earth in miles FML = 5280.0 # feet in a mile FMT = 3.28084 # feet in a meter DEG = 360.0 # degrees in a circle # --- calculate some constants cf = CIR * FML # circumference of earth in feet cm = cf / FMT # circumference of earth in meters df = cf / DEG # one degree of arc in feet dm = cm / DEG # one degree of arc in meters print('') print('circumference of earth {} feet'.format(cf)) print('circumference of earth {} meters'.format(cm)) print('One degree of arc {} feet'.format(df)) print('One meter of arc {} meters'.format(dm)) # --- probably need to put the following code in a loop so # --- a user can input degrees and calculate more that once calcdeg = 0.0010 # degrees to be calculated ft = df * calcdeg # feet in calcdeg mt = dm * calcdeg # meters in calcdeg # -- display data print('') print('-- Calculating degrees of arc (Earth Circumference) --') print(' degrees = {}'.format(calcdeg)) print(' feet = {}'.format(ft)) print(' meters = {}'.format(mt))