Finding the nearest location from a list of coordinates - google-maps-api-3

Question

I would like to find the nearest location for a given address (user input) from an array of locations (lat, lng).
(Or, even better, sort the lcoations by distance)
I want to achieve this without displaying a map.
I'm also not sure which Google API would be best suited for this (Geocoding API, Maps v3 etc.).
What would be the best approach for this?
If someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.
Locations:
[
{
// Amsterdam
"lat": 52.3702157,
"lng": 4.8951679
},
{
// Berlin
"lat": 52.5200066,
"lng": 13.404954
},
{
// Brussels
"lat": 50.85,
"lng": 4.35
},
{
// Paris
"lat": 48.856614,
"lng": 2.3522219
},
{
// Madrid
"lat": 40.4167754,
"lng": -3.7037902
}
]
User input: Antwerp
{
"lat": 51.2194475,
"lng": 4.4024643
}
Should return: Brussels
{
"lat": 50.85,
"lng": 4.35
}
Or, sorted by distance:
[
{
// Brussels
"lat": 50.85,
"lng": 4.35
},
{
// Amsterdam
"lat": 52.3702157,
"lng": 4.8951679
},
{
// Paris
"lat": 48.856614,
"lng": 2.3522219
},
{
// Berlin
"lat": 52.5200066,
"lng": 13.404954
},
{
// Madrid
"lat": 40.4167754,
"lng": -3.7037902
}
]

Answer 1

Android provides a nice feature for you, that can calculate the distance (DistanceTo()) (ref: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Location.html) Heres an example of, how to use DistanceTo with google map api:
private double CalculateDistance(LatLng endPoint)
{
//Convert LatLng to Location
Location location = new Location("tmploc");
location.Latitude = endPoint.Latitude;
location.Longitude = endPoint.Longitude;
location.Time = currentLocation.Time; //Set time as current position's time. (could also be datetime.now)
return currentLocation.DistanceTo(location);
}
You can then use this to find the lowest value:
public int Lowest(params int[] inputs)
{
return inputs.Min();
}
(ref: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4390808/3861983)
If you do a method where you use the first method, add it to a array and then get the lowest number from the second method. You will have achieved your goal.