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Geodesic versus planar geometry
GlobalBuffer, distance, and intersection operations computed on raw lat/lng as if it were a flat Cartesian plane diverge measurably from true great-circle geometry, worsening with distance and latitude.
Detection
Compare planar buffer/distance output against a geodesic (e.g. Vincenty/haversine) computation for the same inputs; diverging error grows with radius and |latitude|.
Mitigation
- Use geodesic buffering/distance libraries (e.g. turf with units, or explicit ellipsoidal projection) for any radius beyond a few km
- Document the max latitude/radius where planar approximation is acceptable
Affected conversions
- Point+radiusH3
- H3inscribed circle
- H3circumscribed circle
- Line/corridorH3
