Point‑to‑Point Distance Tool

Click two locations on the map to measure the shortest path along the Earth’s surface (great‑circle distance). The line is drawn as a geodesic, so it appears correctly curved on Mercator tiles and won’t be a misleading straight line.

Notes

• Distances use the WGS‑84 mean Earth radius (6371.0088 km).
• The blue path is a great‑circle; it bends on a Mercator map because the projection flattens the globe.
• Click “Clear” to start a new measurement.

Why not a straight line?

On a Mercator map, a straight line is a rhumb line (constant compass bearing), not the shortest route. Over long distances, the shortest route is a great‑circle, which appears as a curve in Mercator. This tool computes and renders that curve so you see the physically correct path and distance.