Google Maps has a ruler built in: right-click your starting point, choose “Measure distance” and keep clicking on the map; the total distance shows at the bottom. What its help doesn’t cover is area. For that, Google has Google Earth, or you can draw your lot on Mapsfera and get acres, square feet and the perimeter in one go. Here are all three, with a real example you can check.
Measure distance on a computer
- Open Google Maps in your browser and zoom in on the area.
- Right-click your starting point and choose “Measure distance” (it’s the last item in the menu).
- A card appears at the bottom saying “Click on the map to add to your path”. Click each point you want to pass through: the line draws itself and the total distance updates.
- To move a point or a segment, drag it. To remove a point, click it.
- When you’re done, close the card with its close button.
The distance is the one along the path you draw, straight from point to point. If you want driving or walking distance, that’s a route: use “Directions from here” in the same menu, or Mapsfera’s straight line vs driving distance, which compares the two.
Measure distance on your phone
In the Google Maps app, on Android or iPhone:
- Touch and hold your starting point, somewhere without a name or icon. A red pin drops.
- Choose “Measure distance”.
- Move the map until the black circle sits over the next point.
- Tap “Add point” at the bottom right. The total shows at the bottom in miles and kilometers.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you need. “Undo” removes the last point; to start over, tap “More” (top right) and then “Clear”.
- To exit, tap the back arrow at the top left.
What about area? Google Earth
The Google Maps help only covers distance. For area, Google has Google Earth, which runs in your browser with nothing to install:
- Open Google Earth and search for the place.
- Click “Measure” on the left. The view switches to straight down.
- Click each corner of the property.
- Join the last point to the first to close the shape. The area and the perimeter appear on the right.
- If you slip, “Undo” removes the last point; “Start New” begins another measurement and “Close” deletes it.
- To change units (acres, square feet…), use the drop-down next to the number. To change them for good, go to Tools › Settings › Format and Units.
Google Earth warns that its measurements may not be 100% accurate where there’s 3D terrain or buildings, and recommends measuring from the top-down view. It also ignores slope: it measures the lot as if it were flat.
Area on Mapsfera, with a real example
In Area calculator you draw the shape on the map or on aerial imagery (in the lower 48, the USGS National Map imagery) and get acres, square feet, square miles and the perimeter at the same time. You can measure several areas, cut out holes (a pond, a building) and save the result as a link or download it.
An example you can check: trace the outline of Central Park in New York as it’s drawn in OpenStreetMap, and you get:
| Measurement | Value |
|---|---|
| Area | 842.5 acres |
| Perimeter | 6.10 miles |
| Official size (Central Park Conservancy) | 843 acres |
| Comparison | About 640 football fields with end zones |
Our 17-point outline lands within half an acre of the official 843 acres. If you walk the same outline with Google Maps’ “Measure distance”, the total comes to about the same 6.1 miles.
How to measure a lot well
- Use aerial imagery instead of the street map: fences, driveways and tree lines are easier to see.
- Zoom all the way in before you place each corner. Zoomed out, one click can land many feet away.
- Put a corner at every change of direction of the property line. On a curved line, add more points.
- Always close the shape on the first point. Otherwise you have a line, not an area.
- Check it against your county. Most counties publish parcel maps online through their assessor or GIS office. If your measurement and the parcel record are far apart, review your corners.
Units worth knowing
| Unit | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 acre | 43,560 sq ft (about 4,047 m²) |
| 1 square mile | 640 acres |
| 1 hectare | 2.471 acres (10,000 m²) |
| 1 football field with end zones (360 × 160 ft) | 57,600 sq ft (1.32 acres) |
If what you need is a circle
To see what lies within 5, 10 or 50 miles of a point, you don’t have to measure by hand: the radius map draws the circle and gives you its area. We explain it in how to draw a radius on Google Maps.