Using different heuristic for producing a random GPS coordinate

this approach will not result in a uniform distribution, but will
instead concentrate points in the center.

1 files changed, 6 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/lib/address.js b/lib/address.js
index f6e5be12..dde53b0d 100644
--- a/lib/address.js
+++ b/lib/address.js
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ var address = {
         function kilometersToMiles(miles) {
             return miles * 0.621371;
         }
-        function boundaryCoordinate(coordinate, bearing, distance, isMetric) {
+        function coordinateWithOffset(coordinate, bearing, distance, isMetric) {
             var R = 6378.137; // Radius of the Earth (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html)
             var d = isMetric ? distance : kilometersToMiles(distance); // Distance in km
 
@@ -147,14 +147,12 @@ var address = {
         radius = radius || 10.0;
         isMetric = isMetric || false;
 
-        // This is a heuristic to approximate the circular region defined by coordinate and radius.
-        topLeftBoundary = boundaryCoordinate(coordinate, degreesToRadians(45), radius, isMetric);
-        bottomRightBoundary = boundaryCoordinate(coordinate, degreesToRadians(45), -radius, isMetric);
+        // TODO: implement either a gaussian/uniform distribution of points in cicular region.
+        // Possibly include param to function that allows user to choose between distributions.
 
-        randLat = randomFloat(topLeftBoundary[0], bottomRightBoundary[0]).toFixed(4);
-        randLong = randomFloat(topLeftBoundary[1], bottomRightBoundary[1]).toFixed(4);
-
-        return [randLat, randLong];
+        // This approach will likely result in a higher density of points near the center.
+        var randomCoord = coordinateWithOffset(coordinate, degreesToRadians(Math.random() * 360.0), radius, isMetric);
+        return [randomCoord[0].toFixed(4), randomCoord[1].toFixed(4)];
     }
 };