Bearing and distance calculator

Initial bearing from north: —
Estimated great-circle distance: —

Enter both coordinate pairs. Results use geographic north.

This is a spherical great-circle estimate, not a surveyed route or a live compass reading. It does not account for terrain, roads, magnetic declination, or obstacles.

How to calculate a bearing from coordinates

A bearing is measured clockwise from geographic north: 0° points north, 90° east, 180° south, and 270° west. The initial bearing can change along a long great-circle route. If you are holding a compass, first confirm its north reference and reported accuracy; a magnetic heading cannot be directly compared with a true-north route bearing without a location-specific declination correction.

The calculator uses a spherical Earth approximation. It is useful for general orientation, but it is not a replacement for surveyed coordinates or navigation equipment where errors matter. For your current coordinate pair, open the coordinates tool. For an actual device heading, open the online compass.

Check the direction with an example

Enter 0°, 0° as the start and 0°, 1° as the destination. Both points are on the equator, so the initial bearing is 90° east and the estimated distance is about 111.2 km. Reverse the points for 270° west. On other routes, the reverse initial bearing is not always the forward bearing plus 180°.