About the Distance Calculator

Want to know how far you are from thousands of cities around the world?

Our Distance Calculator will calculate the air or the great circle distance between any two cities in our database.

Air distance

Air or great circle distance is the shortest, most direct distance between any two locations on the Earth as measured by drawing a path along the surface of the Earth. This is different from tracing a path between two locations by going through the Earth’s interior.

Using the Distance Calculator

Our Distance Calculator is easy to use. To find out the shortest, most direct air distance between two cities follow these steps:

• Search for or choose any city available in our World Clock from the dropdown menu. This will be the location you would like to know the distance from.
• Search for or choose from the dropdown another city available in our World Clock. This will be the location you would like to know the distance to.
• Click on Calculate Distance.

Interpreting results

The distance calculator calculates the air distance between two cities in three different units:

• Kilometers: The kilometer is a unit of length that is used worldwide to measure distances, with a few notable exceptions. A kilometer (km) is part of the metric system and equals 1000 meters. Only the United States, parts of the United Kingdom and Canada still use miles as a unit of distance instead of kilometers. A kilometer is 0.6124 miles.
• Miles: Only a few countries in the world still use miles as a unit of length. One mile is 5,280 feet and is also called a statute mile in order to separate it from a nautical mile.
• Nautical Miles: A nautical mile is a unit of length, usually used in shipping and aviation industries. It corresponds to the Earth’s circumference.

  The Earth is shaped like an almost perfect sphere, and when it is halved at the Equator, the Equator can be considered as a 360 degree circle. According to convention, each degree can be further divided into 60 minutes. A nautical mile is defined as one minute of the angle of the equator. This means, that the Earth’s circumference is about 21,600 nautical miles (360 degrees * 60 minutes = 21,600 nautical miles). A nautical mile is about 1.852 kilometers or 1.1508 miles. Its symbols are N, M or nmi.

The map shows the shortest air distance between your two chosen locations.

Please keep in mind that while it is the shortest, most direct distance, it may not be the most navigable or transportable distance. Airlines, land transport and shipping lines consider a variety of things, including geographical impediments, political conditions, climatic and weather conditions, when deciding on travel routes.

The two shaded boxes under the map provide longitude, latitude, and directional information for your locations.

The box on the left gives information for your “from” location, while the box on the right provides information if you calculated the distance from your “to” location to your “from” location i.e. if you reversed locations.

You can modify or change the locations by clicking on “Modify From or To location” link.

The box below this link provides the current time at your chosen locations.

Topics: Help