What is straight-line (great-circle) distance?

It is the shortest path between two points on the surface of a sphere — the path a plane would take if it could fly in a perfect arc ignoring wind, terrain, and flight restrictions. It is always shorter than the road distance.

Where do I find a city's latitude and longitude?

Search for the city on Google Maps, right-click the location, and copy the coordinates shown. They appear in decimal-degree format (e.g. 48.8566, 2.3522 for Paris).

What formula does this tool use?

The Haversine formula, which accounts for the curvature of the Earth. It is accurate to within about 0.5% for most city-to-city distances.

Why does the road distance differ from this result?

Roads, mountains, coastlines, and political borders force vehicles to take longer routes. Straight-line distance is always the theoretical minimum — actual travel is typically 20–40% longer.

Is my data sent to a server?

No. All calculations run entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is transmitted to any server.

What coordinate format should I use?

Use decimal degrees (e.g. 40.7128 for latitude, -74.0060 for longitude). Negative latitude means south of the equator; negative longitude means west of the prime meridian.

Distance Between Cities

Name: Distance Between Cities
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Enter two city names and their coordinates to instantly get the straight-line distance in kilometers and miles.

Enter Two Cities

City 1

City Name

Latitude

Longitude

City 2

City Name

Latitude

Longitude

Enter two city coordinates and click Calculate

Try an Example

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Summary

Enter two city names and their coordinates to instantly get the straight-line distance in kilometers and miles.

How it works

Enter the name and decimal-degree coordinates (latitude, longitude) for City 1.
Enter the name and decimal-degree coordinates for City 2.
Click "Calculate Distance" to run the Haversine formula.
Read the result in both kilometers and miles.
Use the copy buttons to copy either distance value.
Click "Swap Cities" to reverse the two city entries, or "Reset" to start over.

Use cases

Estimate how far apart two travel destinations are as-the-crow-flies.
Compare city distances when planning a multi-stop itinerary.
Check airline route distances for rough flight-time estimates.
Educational projects that need quick great-circle distance lookup.
Validating distance data in logistics or geography homework.
Comparing road-trip vs. straight-line distances between cities.
Finding which of several cities is closest to a reference point.
Quick sanity-checking of GPS coordinates before using them in code.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-06-10 · Reviewed by Nham Vu