Geo Distance Calculator
Calculate the great-circle distance between two latitude/longitude points in kilometers, miles, nautical miles, meters and feet, plus the initial compass bearing. Choose the Haversine (spherical) or Vincenty (WGS-84 ellipsoid) formula; coordinates accept decimal degrees or DMS.
Input
Decimal degrees or DMS/DDM (e.g. 40 42 46 N) — auto-detected.
Decimal degrees or DMS/DDM — auto-detected.
Decimal degrees or DMS/DDM — auto-detected.
Decimal degrees or DMS/DDM — auto-detected.
Haversine treats Earth as a sphere (fast, ~0.5% error); Vincenty models the WGS-84 ellipsoid (millimeter-grade, matches GPS software).
Output
| Unit | Value |
|---|---|
| No data yet | |
Guides
The Geo Distance Calculator measures the shortest distance across the Earth's surface between two geographic points. Enter a latitude and longitude for Point A and Point B and get the separation in kilometers, miles, nautical miles, meters and feet at once, along with the initial compass bearing from A to B. It's the fast way to answer "how far apart are these two coordinates?" without opening a mapping app.
How to use it
- Enter the latitude and longitude of your first point (Point A).
- Enter the latitude and longitude of your second point (Point B).
- Pick a formula — Haversine or Vincenty.
- Read the distance table and bearing. Results update as you type; copy or download them as CSV.
Each coordinate box accepts either decimal degrees (40.7128, -74.0060) or degrees-minutes-seconds (40°42'46"N, 74 0 21.6 W). The format is detected automatically, and a N/S/E/W hemisphere letter or a leading minus sign sets the direction, so you can paste coordinates straight from Google Maps, a GPS device or a survey record.
Haversine vs. Vincenty
The Haversine formula computes the great-circle distance assuming the Earth is a perfect sphere of mean radius 6,371 km. It's fast, numerically stable, and accurate to within about 0.5% — more than good enough for travel estimates, radius filters and "as the crow flies" figures.
The Vincenty formula solves the inverse geodesic problem on the WGS-84 reference ellipsoid, the same model GPS uses. Because the Earth is slightly flattened at the poles, ellipsoidal distances differ from spherical ones by a few kilometers over intercontinental spans. Vincenty is iterative and millimeter-accurate, so choose it when you need survey-grade precision. For example, New York to London is about 5,570 km by Haversine and 5,585 km by Vincenty.
What is the initial bearing?
The initial bearing (or forward azimuth) is the compass heading you would start out on to follow the great-circle route from Point A to Point B, given in degrees clockwise from true north and labeled with the nearest 16-point compass direction. Along a great circle the heading changes continuously, so this is the starting direction, not a constant one.
Which distance unit should I use?
Kilometers and miles suit road and travel contexts; nautical miles are standard in aviation and marine navigation (one nautical mile is one minute of latitude); meters and feet help with short-range engineering or mapping work. All five are derived from the same computed distance, so they always agree.
Is my data private?
Yes. The entire calculation runs locally in your browser — coordinates are never uploaded to a server, so you can use it with sensitive location data with confidence.
Common uses
Estimating flight or shipping distances, setting a "within X km" search radius, checking the span of a delivery route, teaching trigonometry and spherical geometry, or validating coordinates exported from a GPS log.