Measure distance on a map
Total distance
5,929.3 km
3 points, 2 legs
City centers, rounded to 0.01°.
Drop a file here or
Up to 500 rows. Read in your browser, never uploaded.
One point per row: name (optional), latitude, longitude. Decimals use a point. Addresses are not looked up.
Leg by leg, other units and share
| Leg | km | Bearing |
|---|---|---|
| A → B | 5,585.5 | 51.2° NE |
| B → C | 343.84 | 148° SSE |
Total: 5,929.3 km, 3,684.3 mi, 3,201.6 nmi, 5,929,297 m, 19,453,074 ft.
On a sphere of radius 6,371 km the same path would be 5,913.9 km (0.26% different).
Last point: 48.86000, 2.35000
WGS 84 · geodesic · Guide, examples and sources below
Plan the trip: every distance, the shortest order and the time
One way, in the order you clicked
5,929.3 km
A → B → C
Shortest order (every order checked)
The order you clicked is already the shortest: A → B → C.
At 50 km/h: 4 d 22 h in your order.
| From and to | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | – | 5,585 | 5,853 |
| B | 5,585 | – | 344 |
| C | 5,853 | 344 | – |
Closest pair: B–C, 343.84 km. Farthest pair: A–C, 5,853.1 km.
| If you move at | Your order | Shortest order (same) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 km/h | 49 d 9 h | – |
| 20 km/h | 12 d 8 h | – |
| 50 km/h | 4 d 22 h | – |
| 100 km/h | 2 d 11 h | – |
| 500 km/h | 11 h 52 min | – |
Time is the distance divided by the speed, with no stops, traffic or detours. The distances are straight lines over the Earth’s surface, so a road or a flight path takes longer.
How do I measure a distance on a map?
Click two or more points on the map and the total distance appears in kilometers, miles or nautical miles. It is the shortest path over the Earth’s surface, not the road distance.
Click the map to drop point A, then click again for B, C and so on. The panel adds up each leg and shows the total in kilometers, miles or nautical miles. Switching units is one tap and nothing is recalculated from a rounded number, because the distance is kept in meters and only converted for display.
To fix a mistake use Undo, or Clear to start over. If clicking is awkward, for example on a small screen or with a keyboard, type a coordinate such as 40.7128, -74.0060 in the box and press Add point. The box reads decimal degrees, degrees-minutes-seconds and UTM, so you can paste what a GPS or a spreadsheet gives you.
A winding route such as a river, a coastline or a hiking trail is measured by clicking many points along it: the more points, the closer the total gets to the real length of the curve. Every measurement is also written into the address bar, so copying the link sends the same points to someone else. The points travel only inside that link; this site never receives them.
How do I measure a long list of places, such as stops from a spreadsheet?
Export the places as CSV, one per row, with latitude and longitude. A name can come first, so both Paris,48.86,2.35 and 40.71,-74.01 are valid rows. Drop the file on the list in the panel, or paste the rows, and press “Use these points”: the points go on the map in the order of the rows, and the legs, the total and the trip planner update at once.
A row that cannot be read is listed by its line number, and the other rows are still used. Addresses are not looked up, so each row needs coordinates in decimal degrees or degrees-minutes-seconds. Names are read but not kept: the points are lettered A, B, C in order. “Add these after the points” keeps the points you clicked and adds the rows after them. One measurement holds up to 500 points.
The file is read in your browser and is never uploaded. The points are written into the address bar, so the link you copy carries every one of them.
How do I find the shortest order to visit several places?
With three or more points on the map, the planner under it adds up the trip in the order you clicked, then checks the other orders and shows the shortest one. Point A always stays the start. Choose “One way” to end at the last place, or “Round trip” to count the way back to A as well. Press “Use this order” and the points are renumbered on the map and in the link.
Up to nine points, every possible order is tried, so the answer is the true shortest for those straight-line distances. From ten to sixty points the tool builds an order by always going to the nearest place left and then straightens crossings (a 2-opt pass); it is a good order, and the panel says it is not proven to be the shortest. The table of every pair shows up to twelve points.
Worked example. Clicked as New York → London → Los Angeles → Paris → Cairo, the trip is 26,682 km. The shortest order is New York → Los Angeles → London → Paris → Cairo: 16,278 km, which saves 10,404 km. At a steady 800 km/h that is 1 d 9 h against 20 h 21 min.
The time is only the distance divided by the speed you type, in km/h, mph or knots, with no stops, traffic or detours. “Copy the trip as text” puts the order, the distance, the time and the coordinates of each point in your clipboard, ready to paste into a message.
What is a geodesic distance, and why is the line curved?
A geodesic is the shortest path between two points on the surface of the ellipsoid that models the Earth. This tool uses WGS 84, the model behind GPS: a semi-major axis of 6,378,137 m and a flattening of 1/298.257223563. On a flat web map that shortest path is a curve, so each leg is drawn along the geodesic instead of as a straight segment, and the number you read is the length of that curve.
The numbers come from Charles Karney’s algorithms for geodesics, published in the Journal of Geodesy in 2013 and used in the GeographicLib software. The code is checked here against published reference values, including Vincenty’s 1975 test pair (54,972.271 m between Flinders Peak and Buninyong) and two nearly antipodal pairs, the hard case for Vincenty’s formulas, all to a millimeter.
Worked example. New York (40.71, -74.01) to London (51.51, -0.13): 5,585 km, which is 3,470.6 mi or 3,015.9 nmi. The initial bearing is 51.2° (NE). On a perfect sphere of radius 6,371 km the same pair gives 5,570 km, a difference of 0.27%, which is why a sphere-based calculator and this one can disagree slightly.
How far apart are some well-known cities?
| City pair | Kilometers | Miles | Nautical miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York – London | 5,585 | 3,471 | 3,016 |
| New York – Los Angeles | 3,944 | 2,451 | 2,130 |
| London – Sydney | 16,989 | 10,557 | 9,174 |
| Los Angeles – Tokyo | 8,839 | 5,492 | 4,773 |
| Paris – Cairo | 3,213 | 1,997 | 1,735 |
| Rio de Janeiro – Cape Town | 6,069 | 3,771 | 3,277 |
| Singapore – Sydney | 6,301 | 3,915 | 3,402 |
City-center coordinates are rounded to 0.01° and the table is computed by the same code as the tool. Flight and road distances are longer: this is the straight-over-the-surface minimum.
How many kilometers are in a mile and a nautical mile?
The factors are exact definitions, not measurements: the international mile is 1,609.344 meters and the nautical mile is 1,852 meters, as listed in NIST Special Publication 811 (Appendix B.8). A nautical mile is used at sea and in the air; the value 1,852 m is the one fixed internationally.
| Unit | Exact length | in km | in mi | in nmi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilometers | 1,000 m | 1 | 0.621371 | 0.539957 |
| Miles | 1,609.344 m | 1.609344 | 1 | 0.868976 |
| Nautical miles | 1,852 m | 1.852 | 1.150779 | 1 |
| Meters | 1 m | 0.001 | 0.000621 | 0.00054 |
| Feet | 0.3048 m | 0.000305 | 0.000189 | 0.000165 |
Questions about measuring distance
How accurate is the distance?
On the WGS 84 ellipsoid the result agrees with the published reference values to a millimeter, and the code is tested against them. In practice the accuracy is limited by where you click: at a zoom where one pixel is 10 meters, a click can be off by that much. Type coordinates when you need more precision.
Is this the driving or walking distance?
No. It is the shortest path over the Earth’s surface between the points you place. A road, a trail or a flight path is longer. To follow a route, click many points along it and the sum approaches its length.
Why does the line between two points look curved?
A web map flattens the sphere, and the shortest path between two far apart points is a curve on that flat picture. The line drawn is that shortest path, so the curve is the correct one; a straight segment would be longer.
What is the difference between a mile and a nautical mile?
A mile is 1,609.344 meters. A nautical mile is 1,852 meters, so it is about 15% longer. Both are exact definitions in NIST SP 811. Nautical miles are used in navigation by sea and air.
How do I get the distance between two cities?
Pick them from the “Or add a city” list in the panel, or type their coordinates, or click the map. The list has ten city centers, rounded to 0.01°. The panel shows the distance in kilometers, miles and nautical miles, and the table under the map shows it for every pair of points.
Can it tell me the best order to visit several places?
Yes, from three points. The planner under the map compares the order you clicked with the other orders and shows the shortest one, one way or as a round trip. Up to nine points every order is checked; from ten to sixty it finds a good order and says it is not proven shortest.
How is the travel time worked out?
It is the total distance divided by the speed you type, in km/h, mph or knots. It assumes a steady speed along straight lines, with no stops, traffic or detours, so a real trip takes longer. The scenario table repeats the sum for five fixed speeds.
How many points can I add?
Up to 500 points in one measurement, which is enough to trace a long, winding route. The limit keeps the link you share short enough to open everywhere.
Can I load the points from a CSV file?
Yes. Drop a CSV file in the list in the panel, or paste the rows: one place per row, with latitude and longitude and an optional name first. Up to 500 points are read, in the order of the rows. A row that cannot be read is listed by its line number, and the other rows are still used. Addresses are not looked up.
Does it work without an account or an internet connection?
No account is needed. The calculation runs in your browser and works without a connection once the page is open. The base map itself needs a connection; if it cannot load, the page shows your points on a plain coordinate grid and every number still works.
Can I measure across the 180° meridian?
Yes. Longitudes wrap, and the line is drawn without a jump across the date line. The shortest path between two points on either side of it is measured the short way.
Sources and limits
- C. F. F. Karney, “Algorithms for geodesics”, J. Geodesy 87 (2013) 43–55
The direct and inverse geodesic algorithms used for distance, bearing, midpoint, circle and polygon area.
Opened and read on .
- World Geodetic System (WGS 84)
Semi-major axis 6 378 137 m, flattening 1/298.257223563, semi-minor axis 6 356 752.314245 m.
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- Vincenty’s formulae
Nearly antipodal reference distances on WGS 84: 19 936 288.579 m and 19 944 127.421 m.
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- Meridian arc
Quarter meridian of WGS 84: 10 001 965.729 m.
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- NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors
Exact factors: mile 1 609.344 m, nautical mile 1 852 m, foot 0.3048 m, yard 0.9144 m, hectare 10 000 m².
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- OpenFreeMap
No registration, no API keys, no cookies; commercial use allowed; no limits on map views or requests; attribution required.
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- OpenFreeMap terms of service (updated 9 September 2026)
A free service provided as is, with no warranties; automated collection of data without permission is not allowed.
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- OpenStreetMap copyright and license
Map data is under the Open Database License; credit to OpenStreetMap is required.
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These are calculation aids, not survey instruments. They measure on a mathematical model of the Earth (WGS 84); for a legal boundary, engineering or navigation, use a licensed surveyor or the official chart. Nothing you type or load leaves your browser.
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