diff --git a/R/relate.R b/R/relate.R
index 8849c8397..0b83e7ac4 100644
--- a/R/relate.R
+++ b/R/relate.R
@@ -273,13 +273,17 @@ setMethod("adjacent", signature(x="SpatVector"),
 
 
 setMethod("nearby", signature(x="SpatVector"),
-	function(x, y=NULL, distance=0, k=1, centroids=TRUE, symmetrical=TRUE, haversine=FALSE) {
+	function(x, y=NULL, distance=0, k=1, centroids=TRUE, symmetrical=TRUE, method="geo") {
 		
 		k <- round(k)
 		if (distance <= 0 && k < 1) {
 			error("nearby", "either distance or k must be a positive number")
 		}
 
+		if (!(method %in% c("geo", "haversine", "cosine"))) {
+			error("nearby", "not a valid method. Should be one of: 'geo', 'haversine', 'cosine'")
+		}
+
 		if ((geomtype(x) == "polygons") && centroids) {
 			x <- centroids(x)
 		}
@@ -291,10 +295,10 @@ setMethod("nearby", signature(x="SpatVector"),
 		}
 		if (distance > 0) {
 			if (hasy) {
-				d <- distance(x, y, haversine=haversine)
+				d <- distance(x, y, method=method)
 				d <- cbind(from_id=rep(1:nrow(d), ncol(d)), to_id=rep(1:ncol(d), each=nrow(d)), distance=as.vector(d))
 			} else {
-				d <- distance(x, pairs=TRUE, symmetrical=symmetrical, haversine=haversine)
+				d <- distance(x, pairs=TRUE, symmetrical=symmetrical, method=method)
 			}
 			d[d[,3] <= distance, 1:2, drop=FALSE]
 		} else {
@@ -307,7 +311,7 @@ setMethod("nearby", signature(x="SpatVector"),
 				if (hasy) {
 					d <- distance(x, y)
 				} else {
-					d <- as.matrix(distance(x, pairs=FALSE))
+					d <- as.matrix(distance(x, pairs=FALSE, method=method))
 					diag(d) <- NA
 				}
 				d <- t(apply(d, 1, function(i) order(i)[1:k]))
@@ -326,7 +330,7 @@ setMethod("nearby", signature(x="SpatVector"),
 
 
 setMethod("nearest", signature(x="SpatVector"),
-	function(x, y=NULL, pairs=FALSE, centroids=TRUE, lines=FALSE, haversine=FALSE) {
+	function(x, y=NULL, pairs=FALSE, centroids=TRUE, lines=FALSE, method="geo") {
 		if ((geomtype(x) == "polygons") && centroids) {
 			x <- centroids(x)
 		}
@@ -338,10 +342,14 @@ setMethod("nearest", signature(x="SpatVector"),
 			y <- centroids(y)
 		}
 		z <- x
+		if (!(method %in% c("geo", "haversine", "cosine"))) {
+			error("nearest", "not a valid method. Should be one of: 'geo', 'haversine', 'cosine'")
+		}
+		
 		if (within) {
-			z@pntr <- x@pntr$near_within()
+			z@pntr <- x@pntr$near_within(method)
 		} else {
-			z@pntr <- x@pntr$near_between(y@pntr, pairs, havesine)
+			z@pntr <- x@pntr$near_between(y@pntr, pairs, method)
 		}
 		z <- messages(z, "nearest")
 		if (geomtype(z) == "points") { #lonlat points
diff --git a/man/nearby.Rd b/man/nearby.Rd
index 101f6c6de..448cc5b3e 100644
--- a/man/nearby.Rd
+++ b/man/nearby.Rd
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ Identify geometries that are near to each other. Either get the index of all geo
 }
 
 \usage{
-\S4method{nearby}{SpatVector}(x, y=NULL, distance=0, k=1, centroids=TRUE, symmetrical=TRUE, bool haversine)
+\S4method{nearby}{SpatVector}(x, y=NULL, distance=0, k=1, centroids=TRUE, symmetrical=TRUE, method="geo")
 
-\S4method{nearest}{SpatVector}(x, y, pairs=FALSE, centroids=TRUE, lines=FALSE, bool haversine)
+\S4method{nearest}{SpatVector}(x, y, pairs=FALSE, centroids=TRUE, lines=FALSE, method="geo")
 }
 
 \arguments{
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Identify geometries that are near to each other. Either get the index of all geo
   \item{k}{positive integer. number of neighbors. Ignored if \code{distance > 0}}
   \item{centroids}{logical. Should the centroids of polygons be used?}
   \item{symmetrical}{logical. If \code{TRUE}, a near pair is only included once. That is, if geometry 1 is near to geometry 3, the implied nearness between 3 and 1 is not reported. Ignored if \code{k} neighbors are returned}
-  \item{haversine}{logical. Use the haversine formula for lon/lat data? If \code{FALSE}, the more precise but slower method of Karney (2003) is used}  
+  \item{method}{character. One of "geo", "haversine", "cosine". With "geo" the most precise but slower method of Karney (2003) is used. The other two methods are faster but less precise}  
   \item{pairs}{logical. If \code{TRUE} pairwise nearest points are returned (only relevant when using at least one SpatVector of lines or polygons}
   \item{lines}{logical. If \code{TRUE} lines between the nearest points instead of (the nearest) points }
 }