Geodesic utility

Distance Calculator

Measure straight-line distance between two coordinate points in decimal degrees. The tool returns great-circle distance, initial bearing, midpoint coordinates, and a copy-ready result summary.

Calculate distance from latitude and longitude

Enter decimal-degree coordinates for a start point and an end point. Latitude must be between -90 and 90, and longitude must be between -180 and 180. Commas are accepted and converted safely to decimal points.

Assumptions

Uses the haversine formula with an Earth radius of 6,371.0088 km. Results are rounded for readability and represent straight-line distance, not roads, flights, or terrain-aware routes.

Start point

Optional
-90 to 90
-180 to 180

End point

Optional
-90 to 90
-180 to 180

Enter two valid points to calculate distance.

Kilometers

-

Great-circle distance

Miles

-

Statute miles

Nautical miles

-

Useful for marine and aviation planning

Initial bearing

-

Forward azimuth from start to end

Midpoint latitude

-

Decimal degrees

Midpoint longitude

-

Decimal degrees

Copy-friendly summary

Straight-line distance is suitable for rough travel comparison, geography, radio range, and mapping checks. It is not a substitute for road mileage, flight routing, maritime navigation rules, or safety-critical route planning.

How it works

The calculator converts each latitude and longitude value to radians, applies the haversine formula to measure the central angle between both points, and multiplies that angle by Earth’s average radius. This gives the shortest path across the planet’s surface, also called the great-circle distance.

Initial bearing is derived from spherical trigonometry and normalized to a compass heading from to 360°. The midpoint is calculated on the sphere rather than by averaging raw latitude and longitude, which produces better long-distance results.

Rounding is tuned for practical use: distances show two decimal places, midpoint coordinates show five decimal places, and bearing shows one decimal place.

Input tips and common checks

Coordinate format

Use decimal degrees such as 40.7128 or -73.9352. North and east are positive. South and west are negative.

Same-point result

If both points are identical, the distance is 0 and the bearing is shown as not applicable because there is no travel direction.

When numbers look wrong

Check the sign on the longitude first. A missing minus sign will often move a point to the opposite side of the globe.

Quick examples