Great Circle Route Map

Great circle route map and distance calculator

The shortest path between two points on the Earth is not the straight line you see on a flat map — it is the great circle, the arc of the circle that passes through both points and the centre of the planet. That is why a New Delhi to New York flight heads north over Europe and the Arctic rather than west across the Atlantic. This great circle route map draws that arc on a world map, with the great-circle distance in kilometres, statute miles and nautical miles, the initial and final compass bearings, the midpoint, the antipode and an estimated flight time at the speed you choose.

Pick cities from the preset list (major Indian cities plus the world’s hubs) or type any latitude and longitude, and add stops for a multi-leg trip. The map is vector graphics generated in your browser: download it as SVG or PNG, or copy a plain-text summary of every leg.

How to use the Great Circle Route Map

1. Choose a city for stop 1 and stop 2, or clear the preset and type coordinates (decimal degrees, north and east positive). Use the Coordinate Converter if you only have DMS or a Plus Code.
2. Press Add a stop for a multi-leg itinerary; legs are measured in order and summed.
3. Set the distance unit, a cruise speed (850 km/h is typical for a jet) and a taxi/climb allowance per leg to get a flight-time estimate.
4. Read the total, the bearings and the per-leg table, and check the arc on the map — tick Show antipode to see the point exactly opposite your origin.
5. Download the map as SVG or PNG, or copy the summary text.

Great Circle Route Map features

Why great circles look curved

A flat world map is a projection, and this page uses the simplest one: equirectangular, where longitude and latitude map straight to x and y. On that grid the great circle between two points at the same latitude bows towards the nearer pole, because the parallel of latitude is a “small circle” and is longer than the great-circle arc. The effect grows with latitude and distance: London to Vancouver along the 50th parallel would be about 8,900 km, while the great circle over Greenland is about 7,600 km. Near the equator, or for short hops, the two are almost the same.

Airlines follow great circles as closely as air-traffic routes, winds and over-flight permissions allow, which is why the distance between airports quoted by this tool is usually a little shorter than the actual flown distance.

Bearings, midpoints and antipodes

Because a great circle crosses meridians at changing angles, its compass heading changes continuously. The initial bearing is the heading at departure; the final bearing is the heading on arrival. Delhi to New York starts at about 337° (north-north-west) and ends at about 206° (south-south-west). A rhumb line — a path of constant bearing — is longer but easier to steer, which is why older sailing routes used them.

• Midpoint — the point halfway along the arc, useful for finding where to meet or where a long flight is at its most remote.
• Antipode — the point on the far side of the Earth; for India it lies in the Pacific south-east of Easter Island, which is why no two Indian cities can be more than about 20,000 km apart from anywhere.
• Flight time — distance divided by cruise speed, plus a fixed allowance for taxiing, climb and descent. Headwinds and tailwinds (jet streams can add or remove an hour on transatlantic flights) are not modelled. For real durations from local departure and arrival times, use the flight time calculator.

Worked example

Distances use airport reference points for the first row and city centres for the others; published scheduled flight times are longer because they include routing, winds and ground time.