City Distance Skill
Purpose: Calculate line-of-sight and road distances between two cities using free, API-keyless public services and local haversine calculations.
What it does:
- Computes line-of-sight distance using the Haversine formula.
- Uses OpenStreetMap routing endpoint (routing.openstreetmap.de) to compute road distance without an API key.
- Optionally lists intermediate cities by sampling points along the route and reverse-geocoding with Nominatim (free) to find nearby settlements.
Files:
- city_distance_calculator.js — example Node.js script demonstrating the calculations.
- examples: EXAMPLES.md with worked examples (Paris–Berlin, Paris–Dubai)
When to use:
- Quickly get straight-line and driving distances between two cities without paying for an API.
- Generate a rough list of settlements along a driving route for planning or visualization.
Prerequisites:
- Node.js 18+ for the Node.js examples (native fetch available)
- curl and jq for Bash examples
Agent prompt:
Calculate both the straight-line (Haversine) distance and the driving distance between {cityA} and {cityB} using free OpenStreetMap services. Return distances in km and optionally list major towns along the driving route.
Examples
Bash (uses OSM routing, jq):
set -euo pipefail
CITY_A_LAT=48.8566
CITY_A_LON=2.3522
CITY_B_LAT=52.52
CITY_B_LON=13.4050
URL="https://routing.openstreetmap.de/routed-car/route/v1/driving/${CITY_A_LON},${CITY_A_LAT};${CITY_B_LON},${CITY_B_LAT}?overview=false"
curl -fsS --max-time 10 "$URL" | jq -r '.routes[0].distance / 1000'Node.js (uses native fetch, AbortController, error handling):
// city_distance_calculator.js
async function fetchJson(url, timeoutMs = 10000) {
const controller = new AbortController();
const id = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), timeoutMs);
try {
const res = await fetch(url, { signal: controller.signal });
clearTimeout(id);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
return await res.json();
} catch (err) {
clearTimeout(id);
throw err;
}
}
function haversine(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2) {
const R = 6371e3;
const toRad = d => (d * Math.PI) / 180;
const φ1 = toRad(lat1), φ2 = toRad(lat2);
const Δφ = toRad(lat2 - lat1), Δλ = toRad(lon2 - lon1);
const a = Math.sin(Δφ/2)**2 + Math.cos(φ1)*Math.cos(φ2)*Math.sin(Δλ/2)**2;
const c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1 - a));
return (R * c) / 1000;
}
(async () => {
const paris = { lat: 48.8566, lon: 2.3522 };
const berlin = { lat: 52.52, lon: 13.4050 };
console.log('Line-of-sight (km):', haversine(paris.lat, paris.lon, berlin.lat, berlin.lon).toFixed(2));
const url = `https://routing.openstreetmap.de/routed-car/route/v1/driving/${paris.lon},${paris.lat};${berlin.lon},${berlin.lat}?overview=false`;
const data = await fetchJson(url, 15000);
console.log('Driving distance (km):', (data.routes[0].distance / 1000).toFixed(2));
})();Notes / Rate limits:
- routing.openstreetmap.de and Nominatim are public services and have usage policies and rate limits. Use respectfully (cache results, avoid heavy automated polling).
- For production-grade use, consider hosting your own OSRM/GraphHopper instance or using a commercial API with SLA.
See also:
- SKILL_TEMPLATE.md