How to sort GPS coordinates within a range?

I have Longitude and Latitude GPS data and want to sort them within a specified Lat/Long range so they are sorted in shortest distance sequence within that range? I searched several sites but can't find any useful solutions. Anyone here have any pointers? Any help is much appreciated.

Below is a data example, each LAT/LONG combination is a point location. So I want to set a starting location, i.e. 44.133248 / -69.091775 and than want to sort the data so it shows the next closest GPS location (let's call it 'Point 1' for this example)from the starting point and the next sorted GPS location should be the closest distance from 'Point 1' and so forth. I basically want to sort the data in a way that shows me sequentially the shortest distance from one point to the next. I hope this makes sense?

Latitude Longitude
44.119731 -69.108058
44.119731 -69.108057
44.119731 -69.108056
44.119731 -69.108055
44.119731 -69.108054
44.119731 -69.108053
44.119731 -69.108052
44.119731 -69.108051
44.104613 -69.07741
44.104613 -69.077409
44.104613 -69.077408
44.104613 -69.077407
44.104613 -69.077406
44.104613 -69.077405
44.104613 -69.077404
44.104613 -69.077403
44.104613 -69.077402
44.104613 -69.077401

Originally Posted by shg

You want the shortest circuit that visits each point?

Yes, have close to 1000 points but different starting points and want to sort them shortest circuits from where I start

Thank you very much. Looks like a rather interesting formula!
Any idea how to add the GPS data into cells so it recognizes it as a GPS point?

The attachment does what you asked. It uses a (plate carrée) approximation to great-circle distance.

Press the Random button, then the Sort button. It's entertaining to watch.

This is pretty darn awesome. Really cool to watch.
Thank you very very much. This would have taken me a very long time, if I would have been able to do it. I can't tell you how much this help!

Thanks again!!!

I am not an expert in excel at all. I can get by if I need to do a spreadsheet. I too have a whole bunch of GPS Coordinates that I need to sort with distance. I have downloaded and saved the spreadsheet attached to this string, however when I put my own GPS Coordinates into it - it does not save them after I hit sort. It reverts to the original set of coordinates that were in the spreadsheet. I find that this spreadsheet will be soooooo helpful for what I need to do. Please help

hi, I am new member here and very interested with this topic.
I Wonder if there is any way to save this sorted routes as kml files so that I could upload them into Google my maps.
Been using my maps since months a go. Thank you for you help.

I have a similar problem, to sort (x,y) point to form an enclosed region. Data is:
1.00E-02 2.53E-02
1.00E-02 2.64E-02
1.05E-02 2.54E-02
1.10E-02 2.55E-02
1.15E-02 2.55E-02
1.20E-02 2.56E-02
1.00E-02 0.23272025
1.00E-02 0.2407863
1.26E-02 2.57E-02
1.05E-02 0.24067432
1.10E-02 0.24050646
1.32E-02 2.58E-02
1.15E-02 0.24039461
1.38E-02 2.59E-02
1.20E-02 0.24022694
1.45E-02 2.60E-02
1.26E-02 0.24011522
1.52E-02 2.61E-02
1.32E-02 0.23994774
1.59E-02 2.62E-02
1.38E-02 0.23978038
1.45E-02 0.23961313
1.66E-02 2.63E-02
1.52E-02 0.23939032
1.74E-02 2.64E-02
1.79E-02 2.64E-02
1.59E-02 0.23922335
1.83E-02 2.65E-02
1.66E-02 0.23905649
1.91E-02 2.66E-02
1.74E-02 0.2388342
2.00E-02 2.67E-02
1.83E-02 0.23861211
2.10E-02 2.68E-02
1.91E-02 0.23839023
2.20E-02 2.69E-02
2.00E-02 0.23816856
2.30E-02 2.70E-02
2.10E-02 0.23789175
2.20E-02 0.23767054
2.41E-02 2.72E-02
2.30E-02 0.23739432
2.52E-02 2.73E-02
2.41E-02 0.23711841
2.64E-02 2.74E-02
2.52E-02 0.23678775
2.77E-02 2.76E-02
2.64E-02 0.23651255
2.88E-02 2.77E-02
2.90E-02 2.77E-02
2.77E-02 0.23618274
3.04E-02 2.78E-02
2.90E-02 0.23585338
3.18E-02 2.80E-02
3.04E-02 0.23552448
3.33E-02 2.81E-02
3.18E-02 0.23514135
3.49E-02 2.83E-02
3.33E-02 0.23475884
3.65E-02 2.84E-02
3.49E-02 0.23437695
3.83E-02 2.86E-02
3.65E-02 0.23399568
4.01E-02 2.87E-02
3.83E-02 0.23356071
4.20E-02 2.89E-02
4.01E-02 0.23312655
4.32E-02 2.90E-02
4.17E-02 0.23272025
4.40E-02 2.91E-02
4.20E-02 0.23263907
4.40E-02 0.23215262
4.61E-02 2.92E-02
4.61E-02 0.23166719
4.82E-02 2.94E-02
4.82E-02 0.231129
5.05E-02 2.96E-02
5.05E-02 0.23059207
5.29E-02 2.98E-02
5.29E-02 0.23005639
5.54E-02 2.99E-02
5.54E-02 0.22946857
5.81E-02 3.01E-02
5.81E-02 0.22882903
6.08E-02 3.03E-02
6.17E-02 3.04E-02
6.08E-02 0.22819127
6.37E-02 3.05E-02
6.37E-02 0.22755529
6.67E-02 3.07E-02
6.67E-02 0.22686831
6.99E-02 3.09E-02
6.99E-02 0.22613081
7.32E-02 3.11E-02
7.32E-02 0.2253957
7.66E-02 3.13E-02
7.66E-02 0.22466299
8.03E-02 3.15E-02
8.03E-02 0.22388058
8.41E-02 3.17E-02
8.57E-02 3.18E-02
8.41E-02 0.22304901
8.80E-02 3.19E-02
8.80E-02 0.22219469
8.80E-02 0.22216885
9.22E-02 3.22E-02
9.22E-02 0.22129216
9.66E-02 3.24E-02
9.66E-02 0.22036768
0.1011638 3.26E-02
0.1011638 0.21944706
0.10595602 3.28E-02
0.10595602 0.21847946
0.11097525 3.31E-02
0.11097525 0.21746555
0.11623225 3.33E-02
0.11665202 3.33E-02
0.11623225 0.21640601
0.12173827 3.35E-02
0.12173827 0.21530154
0.12750512 3.38E-02
0.12750512 0.21420272
0.13354516 3.40E-02
0.13354516 0.21305994
0.13987131 3.43E-02
0.13846334 0.21214518
0.13987131 0.21187398
0.14649714 3.45E-02
0.14649714 0.21064562
0.15343684 3.48E-02
0.15343684 0.20942438
0.15651854 3.49E-02
0.16070528 3.50E-02
0.16070528 0.2081134
0.16831804 3.53E-02
0.16831804 0.20681062
0.17629141 3.56E-02
0.17629141 0.20542042
0.18464249 3.58E-02
0.18464249 0.20403957
0.19338918 3.61E-02
0.19338918 0.20262087
0.19372681 0.20255019
0.20255019 3.64E-02
0.20255019 0.20111846
0.20772654 3.65E-02
0.21214518 3.67E-02
0.21214518 0.19962719
0.22219469 3.70E-02
0.22219469 0.1981009
0.23272025 3.72E-02
0.23272025 0.19654056
0.24374442 3.75E-02
0.24374442 0.19490183
0.25529081 3.78E-02
0.2545497 0.19338918
0.25529081 0.19327676
0.26738416 3.81E-02
0.26738416 0.19162067
0.27345314 3.83E-02
0.28005039 3.84E-02
0.28005039 0.1899346
0.29331663 3.87E-02
0.29331663 0.1881758
0.3072113 3.90E-02
0.3072113 0.18643329
0.32176418 3.94E-02
0.32165194 0.18464249
0.32176418 0.18462102
0.33700643 3.97E-02
0.33700643 0.18282637
0.35297073 4.00E-02
0.35297073 0.18096497
0.35772281 4.01E-02
0.36969127 4.03E-02
0.36969127 0.17912251
0.38720388 4.06E-02
0.38720388 0.17721637
0.39599247 0.17629141
0.40554607 4.10E-02
0.40554607 0.17528973
0.42475716 4.13E-02
0.42475716 0.17338404
0.44487828 4.17E-02
0.44487828 0.17141931
0.46568172 4.20E-02
0.46595257 4.20E-02
0.46595257 0.16947685
0.47852769 0.16831804
0.48802516 4.23E-02
0.48802516 0.16747847
0.51114335 4.27E-02
0.51114335 0.16546517
0.53535667 4.30E-02
0.53535667 0.16347608
0.56071699 4.34E-02
0.56071699 0.16147333
0.57051725 0.16070528
0.58727866 4.38E-02
0.58727866 0.15942095
0.60397037 4.40E-02
0.61509858 4.41E-02
0.61509858 0.15739465
0.64423635 4.45E-02
0.64423635 0.15535798
0.67295208 0.15343684
0.67475441 4.49E-02
0.67475441 0.15331199
0.70671813 4.52E-02
0.70671813 0.15129295
0.740196 4.56E-02
0.740196 0.14923107
0.77525975 4.60E-02
0.77525975 0.14719729
0.78077872 4.61E-02
0.78770981 0.14649714
0.8119845 4.64E-02
0.8119845 0.14515746
0.85044893 4.68E-02
0.85044893 0.1431126
0.89073546 4.72E-02
0.89073546 0.14109656
0.91605206 0.13987131
0.9329304 4.76E-02
0.9329304 0.13907657
0.97712415 4.80E-02
0.97712415 0.13705361
1.0070018 4.82E-02
1.0234114 4.84E-02
1.0234114 0.13506008
1.0598683 0.13354516
1.0718913 4.88E-02
1.0718913 0.1330646
1.1226678 4.92E-02
1.1226678 0.13106811
1.1758496 4.96E-02
1.1758496 0.12910158
1.2214241 0.12750512
1.2315506 5.01E-02
1.2315506 0.12716455
1.2898903 5.05E-02
1.2898903 0.12522745
1.2963564 5.05E-02
1.3509935 5.09E-02
1.3509935 0.12329119
1.4030301 0.12173827
1.4149913 5.13E-02
1.4149913 0.12138487
1.4820207 5.18E-02
1.4820207 0.11950802
1.5522254 5.22E-02
1.5522254 0.11763282
1.6071463 0.11623225
1.6257557 5.27E-02
1.6257557 0.11578706
1.6657529 5.29E-02
1.7027692 5.31E-02
1.7027692 0.11394374
1.7834309 5.36E-02
1.7834309 0.11212978
1.8371082 0.11097525
1.8679136 5.41E-02
1.8679136 0.11034469
1.9563983 5.45E-02
1.9563983 0.10856277
2.0490747 5.50E-02
2.0490747 0.10680962
2.0960712 0.10595602
2.1379211 5.54E-02
2.1461412 5.55E-02
2.1461412 0.10508479
2.2478058 5.59E-02
2.2478058 0.10336377
2.3542864 5.64E-02
2.3542864 0.10167093
2.3876477 0.1011638
2.4658111 5.69E-02
2.4658111 0.10000581
2.5826188 5.74E-02
2.5826188 9.84E-02
2.7049597 5.79E-02
2.7049597 9.67E-02
2.7166234 9.66E-02
2.7413768 5.81E-02
2.8330961 5.84E-02
2.8330961 9.51E-02
2.9673024 5.89E-02
2.9673024 9.35E-02
3.0873339 9.22E-02
3.1078662 5.94E-02
3.1078662 9.20E-02
3.2550886 5.99E-02
3.2550886 9.05E-02
3.4092851 6.05E-02
3.4092851 8.89E-02
3.5061842 8.80E-02
3.5118971 6.08E-02
3.570786 6.10E-02
3.570786 8.75E-02
3.7399373 6.15E-02
3.7399373 8.60E-02
3.9171015 6.21E-02
3.9171015 8.45E-02
3.9781562 8.41E-02
4.1026581 6.26E-02
4.1026581 8.31E-02
4.2970047 6.31E-02
4.2970047 8.17E-02
4.4958498 6.37E-02
4.5005577 6.37E-02
4.5005577 8.03E-02
4.5115618 8.03E-02
4.7137531 6.43E-02
4.7137531 7.90E-02
4.9370479 6.48E-02
4.9370479 7.76E-02
5.114109 7.66E-02
5.1709202 6.54E-02
5.1709202 7.63E-02
5.4158714 6.60E-02
5.4158714 7.50E-02
5.6724261 6.65E-02
5.6724261 7.37E-02
5.752807 6.67E-02
5.7930867 7.32E-02
5.941134 6.71E-02
5.941134 7.25E-02
6.2225708 6.77E-02
6.2225708 7.12E-02
6.5173396 6.83E-02
6.5173396 7.00E-02
6.5606832 6.99E-02
6.7648344 6.88E-02
6.768658 6.91E-02
6.779398 6.99E-02

Note data is LOG-LOG. I plugged this into your spreadsheet, but it didn't create the nice enclosed figure I was expecting.
Snap6.jpg

Here is attachment for previous post.

Hi

I have an issue with sorting the test data in the attached document - can you help?

Pierre