Calculate Distance Between Two Latitude and Longitude Points

Latitude and longitude are the universal language of location. Whether you are a pilot navigating the skies, a developer building a location-based app, or just a curious mind looking at a map, these numbers define exactly where you are on the planet. Each point is defined by an angle north or south of the equator (latitude) and an angle east or west of the prime meridian (longitude).

But having the coordinates is only half the battle. Once you have two sets of specific numbers, the next logical question is simple: how far apart are they?

It sounds like a basic math problem, but on a spherical planet, it is a little more complex than drawing a straight line on a flat sheet of paper. If you try to use standard school level geometry, your results will be wrong. You need a method that respects the curve of the Earth.

In this guide, we’ll explain the idea behind Earth distance calculations and provide a free calculator that handles the math for you instantly.

Distance Between Two Latitude and Longitude Points Calculator

This calculator which is give below finds the shortest surface distance between two geographic points on Earth using their latitude and longitude values. It uses the Haversine method to ensure accuracy over the globe’s curve.

You only need:

• Latitude & Longitude of Point A
• Latitude & Longitude of Point B

The result can be instantly converted between kilometers, miles, and nautical miles.

Latitude longitude distance calculator

When most people think of distance, they visualize a straight ruler connecting two dots on a flat sheet of paper. This works perfectly for measuring your desk or a football field. However, this method fails when you try to apply it to our planet.

When we talk about the distance between latitude and longitude points, we are not measuring a flat line. Instead, we are measuring the great circle distance.

Imagine stretching a string tightly between two points on a globe. The string won’t form a straight line through the Earth (that would be a tunnel); it will curve along the surface. This curved path is the shortest possible route between two points on the surface of a sphere.

If you were to use a standard “flat” formula (like the one used in high school geometry) to measure the distance between London and New York, you would get a result that is wildly inaccurate because it ignores the fact that you have to travel over the curve of the Earth.

You will often hear the terms “geographic coordinates,” “GPS coordinates,” and “Latitude/Longitude” used interchangeably. This can be confusing, but here is the good news: Mathematically, they are exactly the same.

• Geographic Coordinates: The formal term for the latitude and longitude system that maps the entire planet.
• GPS Coordinates: The raw data (latitude/longitude) your phone or GPS receiver gets from satellites.

So, whether you are trying to calculate distance between GPS coordinates from a hiking app or distance between two geographic coordinates from a map, the method is identical. You are simply calculating the surface arc length between two defined spots on the globe.

This measurement is critical for many industries:

• Aviation: Pilots fly “Great Circle” routes because they are shorter, even if they look curved on a 2D map.
• Shipping: Cargo ships save fuel by following these calculated arcs across the ocean.
• Tech: Apps like Uber or Tinder use this math to find the “nearest” driver or match, regardless of road networks.

In school, you likely learned the Pythagorean theorem (a² + b² = c²) to calculate the distance between two points on a flat graph. It may seem tempting to apply the same formula to latitude and longitude values — but this approach does not work on Earth.

Here’s why:

1. Earth is not flat

Latitude and longitude are mapped onto the surface of the Earth, which is a curved body (more precisely, an oblate spheroid). A simple 2D distance formula assumes a flat plane, while real-world distances on Earth follow curved paths along the surface. This makes flat-grid calculations increasingly inaccurate as distances grow.

2. Longitude lines converge toward the poles

This is the most important reason.

• Latitude lines (parallels):
  The distance between 1° of latitude is nearly constant everywhere — about 111 km (69 miles).
• Longitude lines (meridians):
  The distance between 1° of longitude depends on latitude.
  • At the equator: ~111 km
  • At higher latitudes: the distance shrinks
  • At the poles: the distance becomes zero

If latitude and longitude are treated as a flat grid, this convergence is ignored. As a result, distances are significantly overestimated, especially near the poles.

That’s why a proper latitude–longitude distance calculator uses spherical or geodesic formulas (such as the Haversine or Vincenty methods) to account for Earth’s curvature and longitude convergence.

To calculate distance accurately on Earth, mathematicians use spherical trigonometry. The most common and useful formula for this is the Haversine formula.

It looks intimidating at first glance, but it works on a simple principle: it calculates the central angle between two points on a sphere and then maps that angle to a physical distance.

The Haversine Formula

Here is the math that powers the calculator:

a = sin²(Δφ/2) + cos(φ₁) ⋅ cos(φ₂) ⋅ sin²(Δλ/2)

c = 2 ⋅ atan2( √a, √(1−a) )

d = R ⋅ c

Where:

• φ (phi): Latitude (converted to radians)
• λ (lambda): Longitude (converted to radians)
• R: Radius of the Earth (approx. 6,371 km)
• d: The final distance

The Logic Behind It

You don’t need to be a mathematician to understand what is happening here. The formula breaks down into three simple steps:

1. Measure Angular Differences: First, it calculates the difference between the latitudes and longitudes of the two points.
2. Adjust for the Sphere: It uses sine and cosine functions to adjust for the fact that you are moving along a curved surface, not a flat plane.
3. Convert to Real World Distance: Finally, it multiplies the resulting angle by the Earth’s radius to give you a physical result in kilometers or miles.

You don’t need to memorize this equation—our tool handles it automatically. However, understanding that it uses spherical math rather than linear math helps explain why it is so much more accurate than a standard ruler measurement.

Note: The Haversine formula assumes Earth is a sphere, which provides excellent accuracy for most everyday and educational distance calculations.

If you are curious about what happens inside the calculator, here is the plain English process. You don’t need a math degree to understand the logic:

1. Normalize the Numbers: The computer first takes your latitude and longitude (which are in degrees) and converts them into a format that works with trigonometry (radians).
2. Calculate the Separation: It finds the difference between the two latitudes and the two longitudes.
3. Apply the Curve: It applies the Haversine math to determine the “central angle.” Think of this as the angle between two lines originating from the center of the Earth: one pointing to Location A and one pointing to Location B.
4. Scale to Earth: It takes that angle and multiplies it by the radius of the Earth.

This process transforms abstract angles into a walkable, physical distance.

To make this concrete, let’s look at real-world examples.

Example 1: New York to London

Let’s measure the transatlantic distance between two major hubs.

• Point A (NYC): 40.7128° N, -74.0060° W
• Point B (London): 51.5074° N, -0.1278° W
• Result: The straight-line surface distance is approximately 5,570 km (3,461 miles).

Example 2: Sydney to Tokyo

Crossing from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere.

• Point A (Sydney): -33.8688° S, 151.2093° E
• Point B (Tokyo): 35.6895° N, 139.6917° E
• Result: The distance is approximately 7,800 km (4,846 miles).

Note: The formula handles the negative sign (Southern Hemisphere) automatically.

Example 3: A Short Hiking Trail

Imagine two GPS waypoints on a hiking trail that look very close numerically.

• Start Point: 45.8326, 6.8652
• End Point: 45.8400, 6.8700
• Result: The calculated distance is roughly 0.90 km (or 900 meters).

Note: This is the horizontal distance. It does not account for the vertical climb (elevation gain).

This is a common point of confusion. If distance were that simple, we could just say “1 degree equals 100 km” and be done with it. In reality, latitude and longitude behave very differently.

Latitude Is Consistent

The distance between lines of latitude is roughly the same everywhere on Earth.
Whether you are near the equator or close to the poles, moving 1 degree north or south covers about 111 kilometers (69 miles).

This is because latitude lines are parallel circles that never intersect.

Longitude Varies by Location

The distance between lines of longitude depends entirely on latitude.

• At the Equator:
  1 degree of longitude ≈ 111 km
• At 40° North or South:
  1 degree of longitude ≈ 85 km
• At the Poles:
  1 degree of longitude = 0 km (all meridians meet)

As you move away from the equator, longitude lines converge, reducing the distance between them.

This is why longitude distance cannot be calculated on its own — latitude is always required to determine the true distance between two longitude points.

It is important to distinguish between the output of this calculator and what you might see on a navigation app like Google Maps or Waze.

This calculator shows straight line surface distance.

It assumes you can travel directly from Point A to Point B, ignoring obstacles like buildings, mountains, rivers, or traffic laws. It is the “as the crow flies” distance.

It does not show:

• Road distance: The actual miles you would put on a car odometer.
• Travel routes: It won’t tell you to turn left at the next intersection.
• Turn-by-turn paths: It ignores one-way streets and highways.

Map tools answer the question: “How do I travel there?”

This calculator answers the question: “How far apart are these two points physically?”

Because this calculator does not provide driving directions or routes, you may wonder when this type of distance is actually useful. Latitude–longitude distance is best used for:

• Quick Geographic Comparisons: Determining which branch office is closest to a client’s coordinates.
• Approximate Separation: Getting a rough idea of the scale of a trip (e.g., “Is this a 100km trip or a 500km trip?”).
• Data Validation: Cleaning up databases by checking whether location data makes sense. For example, if a user selects Paris as their city, but their GPS latitude and longitude place them thousands of kilometers away from Paris, the large calculated distance clearly shows that the location data is incorrect.
• Radius Search: Finding all points of interest within a 50km radius of a user.

It is not meant for navigation or driving estimates where roads and terrain matter significantly.

Using the tool provided in Section 2 is straightforward:

1. Enter Coordinates: Input the latitude and longitude of your first location (Point A) and your second location (Point B).
2. Check Signs: Ensure you use negative signs for South latitudes and West longitudes (e.g., -74.00 for West).
3. Choose Units: Select whether you want the result in Kilometers, Miles, or Nautical Miles.
4. Click Calculate: The tool will instantly run the math.
5. Visualize: The tool also plots a simple graph to show the relative position of the two points.

When working with these numbers, here are the pitfalls to watch out for:

• Using Flat Distance Formulas: Do not use simple 2D formulas such as the Pythagorean equation (x² + y²) for geographic coordinates. They assume a flat surface and produce inaccurate results.
• Forgetting Earth’s Curvature: Remember that the shortest path often looks curved on a standard 2D map.
• Calculating Longitude Distance Without Latitude: You cannot measure the width of a longitude degree without knowing the latitude.
• Mixing Formats: Ensure your coordinates are in Decimal Degrees (e.g., 40.7128) rather than Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (e.g., 40° 42′ 46″). You may need to convert them first.

Calculating the distance between two latitude and longitude points is a fundamental skill in geography and navigation. It helps convert raw, abstract coordinates into meaningful physical separation.

If you remember one thing: Latitude–longitude distance measures the shortest surface distance between two points on Earth, accounting for the unique spherical shape of our planet. It is the “Great Circle” line, not a ruler line on a paper map.

Use the latitude longitude distance calculator above whenever you need a fast, reliable result without getting bogged down in complex trigonometry.

1.How Do You Find the Midpoint of Two Coordinates?

Distance measures how far two points are apart. The midpoint focuses on the exact center between them. If you want to learn how to find that center step by step, see our guide on how to find the midpoint of two coordinates.

2. How to Find the Distance Between Two Coordinates

The midpoint shows where the center of a line lies, but distance tells you how far apart the two endpoints are. If you want to measure the actual length between two coordinates, see our guide on how to find and calculate the distance between two coordinates.

This calculator and accompanying article are provided for educational and general reference purposes only. While the Haversine formula is highly accurate for most everyday uses, the results should not be relied upon for professional navigation, legal surveying, or safety-critical applications.