Mercator longitude and latitude calculations to x and y on a cropped map (of the UK)

I wrote a function which does exactly what you were looking for. I know it's a bit late, but maybe there are some other people interested in.

You need a map which is a mercator projection and you need to know the lat / lon positions of your map. You get great customized mercator maps with perfect matching lat / lon positions from TileMill which is a free software from MapBox!

I'm using this script and tested it with some google earth positions. It worked perfect on a pixel level. Actually I didnt test this on different or larger maps. I hope it helps you!

Raphael ;)

<?php

$mapWidth = 1500;
$mapHeight = 1577;

$mapLonLeft = 9.8;
$mapLonRight = 10.2;
$mapLonDelta = $mapLonRight - $mapLonLeft;

$mapLatBottom = 53.45;
$mapLatBottomDegree = $mapLatBottom * M_PI / 180;

function convertGeoToPixel($lat, $lon)
{
    global $mapWidth, $mapHeight, $mapLonLeft, $mapLonDelta, $mapLatBottom, $mapLatBottomDegree;

    $x = ($lon - $mapLonLeft) * ($mapWidth / $mapLonDelta);

    $lat = $lat * M_PI / 180;
    $worldMapWidth = (($mapWidth / $mapLonDelta) * 360) / (2 * M_PI);
    $mapOffsetY = ($worldMapWidth / 2 * log((1 + sin($mapLatBottomDegree)) / (1 - sin($mapLatBottomDegree))));
    $y = $mapHeight - (($worldMapWidth / 2 * log((1 + sin($lat)) / (1 - sin($lat)))) - $mapOffsetY);

    return array($x, $y);
}

$position = convertGeoToPixel(53.7, 9.95);
echo "x: ".$position[0]." / ".$position[1];

?>

Here is the image I created with TileMill and which I used in this example:

In addition to what Raphael Wichmann has posted (Thanks, by the way!), here is the reverse function, in actionscript :

function convertPixelToGeo(tx:Number, ty:Number):Point
{   
    /* called worldMapWidth in Raphael's Code, but I think that's the radius since it's the map width or circumference divided by 2*PI  */   
    var worldMapRadius:Number = mapWidth / mapLonDelta * 360/(2 * Math.PI);     
    var mapOffsetY:Number = ( worldMapRadius / 2 * Math.log( (1 + Math.sin(mapLatBottomRadian) ) / (1 - Math.sin(mapLatBottomRadian))  ));
    var equatorY:Number = mapHeight + mapOffsetY;   
    var a:Number = (equatorY-ty)/worldMapRadius;

    var lat:Number = 180/Math.PI * (2 * Math.atan(Math.exp(a)) - Math.PI/2);
    var long:Number = mapLonLeft+tx/mapWidth*mapLonDelta;
    return new Point(lat,long);
}

I've converted the PHP code provided by Raphael to JavaScript and can confirm it worked and this code works myself. All credit to Raphael.

/*
var mapWidth = 1500;
var mapHeight = 1577;

var mapLonLeft = 9.8;
var mapLonRight = 10.2;
var mapLonDelta = mapLonRight - mapLonLeft;

var mapLatBottom = 53.45;
var mapLatBottomDegree = mapLatBottom * Math.PI / 180;
*/

function convertGeoToPixel(latitude, longitude ,
                           mapWidth , // in pixels
                           mapHeight , // in pixels
                           mapLonLeft , // in degrees
                           mapLonDelta , // in degrees (mapLonRight - mapLonLeft);
                           mapLatBottom , // in degrees
                           mapLatBottomDegree) // in Radians
{
    var x = (longitude - mapLonLeft) * (mapWidth / mapLonDelta);

    latitude = latitude * Math.PI / 180;
    var worldMapWidth = ((mapWidth / mapLonDelta) * 360) / (2 * Math.PI);
    var mapOffsetY = (worldMapWidth / 2 * Math.log((1 + Math.sin(mapLatBottomDegree)) / (1 - Math.sin(mapLatBottomDegree))));
    var y = mapHeight - ((worldMapWidth / 2 * Math.log((1 + Math.sin(latitude)) / (1 - Math.sin(latitude)))) - mapOffsetY);

    return { "x": x , "y": y};
}