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Distance & area

Distance calculator

Search two places, paste coordinates or tap the map to get the straight-line distance. One more tap gives you the distance by road, by bike or on foot.

Example From New York to Los Angeles. Change the points to measure your own.

Loading the map…

Straight line

Result

In a straight line

2,464mi

New York → Los Angeles

Initial bearing
274° (W)
Final bearing
246° (SW)
In the other unit
3,966 km

By road

Tap a way to travel to see the distance and time along the route.

To give you an idea

3.4 times New York – Chicago

Your trip2,464 mi

New York – Chicago720 mi

What next?

Open these same two points in another tool, without searching again.

Straight line vs driving distanceCompare the as-the-crow-flies distance with the real driving distance and see how much the road adds. Halfway pointFind the exact halfway point between two places and see it on the map, ready to share. Multi-stop route plannerPlan a route with several stops, let it find the best order and open it in Google or Apple Maps.

Save or share this trip

How to use it

  1. Pick two points

    Type a town, an address or coordinates in any format, use your location or tap the map. Drag A or B to fine-tune.

  2. Read the distance

    You get the straight-line distance, measured on the real shape of the Earth, plus the initial bearing. Switch between miles and kilometers anytime.

  3. See the route

    Tap Driving, Cycling or Walking for the distance and time along the way. Open it in Google Maps or copy the link to share it.

What it’s for

  • Plan a trip

    See how far apart two cities are before deciding whether to drive, take the train or fly.

  • House or job hunting

    Measure how far a home is from the office, a school or the station, in a straight line and by road.

  • Hiking and sports

    Measure from one summit to another, or from the trailhead to the hut, and compare the straight line with the trail.

  • School and curiosity

    New York to Honolulu is 4,971 mi (7,999 km) as the crow flies. See why the line looks curved on the map.

How it’s calculated

Mapsfera measures on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the slightly flattened shape of the Earth used by GPS and maps, with Charles Karney’s method (GeographicLib). It finds the shortest distance between two points to within nanometers. To get the idea, the haversine formula does the same job on a sphere.

On a sphere (haversine)

d = 2R · asin √( sin²(Δφ/2) + cos φ₁ · cos φ₂ · sin²(Δλ/2) )

φ is latitude, λ is longitude (in radians) and R is the Earth’s mean radius, 6,371 km (3,959 miles).

On the ellipsoid (what Mapsfera uses)

d = length of the geodesic on WGS84

Semi-major axis a = 6,378,137 m and flattening f = 1/298.257223563, solved with Karney’s method (2013).

Example: New York to Los Angeles
New York 40.66270° N, 73.93870° W
Los Angeles 34.01940° N, 118.41080° W
On a sphere (haversine) 2,459 mi (3,957 km) · 3,957,326 m
On the ellipsoid (Mapsfera) 2,464 mi (3,966 km) · 3,966,044 m
Difference 5.42 mi (8.72 km) · 0.22%
Initial bearing 274° (W)

A sphere is off by up to 0.5%: no big deal for short hops, but it adds up to miles on a long trip. That’s why Mapsfera uses the ellipsoid. The tool also gives the initial bearing, the angle from north you’d set off on to go from A to B along the shortest path.

Why the line looks curved on the map

The shortest path on the Earth (the geodesic, or great-circle route) is part of a great circle. On a map like this one, which stretches the far north and south, it looks curved. New York to Honolulu is 4,971 mi (7,999 km): you set off on a bearing of 283° (W) and arrive on a bearing of 233° (SW). The heading keeps changing along the way.

If you kept the same compass heading the whole time (a straight line on this map, called a rhumb line), the trip would be longer. That’s why flights from the US to Europe swing up toward Canada and Greenland.

Frequently asked questions

Is the distance a straight line or by road?

Both. First you get the straight-line distance, as the crow flies. Tap Driving, Cycling or Walking to also see the distance and travel time along the route, drawn on the map.

How far is New York from Los Angeles as the crow flies?

2,464 mi (3,966 km), measured between the points Mapsfera uses for each city (40.66270° N, 73.93870° W and 34.01940° N, 118.41080° W). By road it’s longer: tap Driving in the tool to see it.

What coordinates can I type?

Almost any format: decimal degrees (40.7128, -74.0060), degrees, minutes and seconds (40°42′46″N 74°0′22″W), UTM with its zone, MGRS, a Plus Code or a Google Maps link with coordinates. Paste them into the A or B box.

How accurate is it?

The straight-line distance is exact: it’s measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid with GeographicLib. Measuring on a sphere, as many calculators do, changes the result a little: for New York to Los Angeles, by 5.42 mi (8.72 km). Road distances depend on the OpenStreetMap data and the route chosen.

Why is the line on the map curved?

Because it’s the shortest path on a round Earth drawn on a flat map. The longer the trip and the farther from the equator, the more it curves.

How do I share or save the measurement?

Use Copy link: anyone who opens it sees the same two points. You can also download the map as a PNG, or the points and lines as GeoJSON or KML for Google Earth.

Do I need to sign up or pay?

No. It’s free, works in the browser on your phone or computer, and doesn’t ask for an account.

Related tools

All tools
Distance between cities Pick two US cities and get the distance between them, both in a straight line and by road. Distance between ZIP codes Enter two US ZIP codes to get the distance between them and see both areas on the map. Straight line vs driving distance Compare the as-the-crow-flies distance with the real driving distance and see how much the road adds. Area calculator Draw around a field, a plot or any shape on the map to get its area in acres, hectares or square feet.

Sources