Draw a radius circle on a map — in km or miles
This map radius tool draws a circle of any radius around an address, a landmark or a pair of coordinates, so you can see how far 5 km, 10 miles or 100 km really reaches. Add several circles — a delivery zone, a commute limit, a school catchment — and list places to see which fall inside each one, with the distance from every centre.
The circles are true geodesic circles on the WGS84 ellipsoid: every point of the outline is exactly the radius away from the centre over the Earth’s surface, worked out with Vincenty’s formulae. A plain “circle” drawn on a web map would stretch towards the poles; this one does not. The preview works offline; press Show on OpenStreetMap for the street map, then download a PNG, an SVG, or KML and GeoJSON files for Google Earth, QGIS or other mapping apps. It is free and needs no sign-up.
How to use the Map Radius Tool
- Type an address or place and press Find, use My location, or enter the latitude and longitude.
- Enter the radius and choose km or miles; give the circle a label.
- Press Add another circle for more rings, and tap a circle’s name to edit it.
- Paste places to check as “name; lat, lon” — the table shows inside or outside and the distance.
- Press Show on OpenStreetMap to see the street map, click it to move the centre or add points, and download the result.
Map Radius Tool features
True geodesic circles
Vincenty’s direct formula on WGS84, 180 points per circle, accurate to millimetres.
Several circles
Up to six circles with their own centres, radii, colours and labels.
Inside or outside
Up to 500 points checked against every circle by ellipsoidal distance.
Exports
PNG of the map or preview, SVG, KML and GeoJSON.
Area and circumference
In km², square miles, hectares and acres.
How the circle is drawn
From the centre the tool walks out the radius along 180 evenly spaced bearings using Vincenty’s direct formula on the WGS84 ellipsoid (semi-major axis 6,378,137 m, flattening 1/298.257223563) and joins the end points. Whether a place is inside is decided by Vincenty’s inverse formula: the ellipsoidal distance from the centre is compared with the radius. The area and circumference are those of a spherical cap on a sphere of the same surface area as the Earth, within a fraction of a per cent of the ellipsoidal value. A 10 km circle covers about 314.16 km² (121.3 sq mi); a 10 mile circle about 813.7 km² (314.2 sq mi).
| Radius | Area | Circumference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 3.14 km² (314 ha) | 6.28 km |
| 5 km | 78.5 km² | 31.4 km |
| 10 km | 314.2 km² | 62.8 km |
| 25 miles | 5,089 km² (1,963 sq mi) | 157.1 mi |
| 100 km | 31,415 km² | 628.3 km |
Maps, search and fair use
The street map uses OpenStreetMap’s standard tiles under the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s tile usage policy: they load only when you open the map and only for the area on screen, with the attribution shown. Address search uses OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service, which asks for no more than one request per second and no searches on every keystroke — so the tool looks a place up only when you press Find, waits at least a second between requests, and remembers answers for the session. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence.
Radius is straight-line distance, not travel time or road distance. To measure a route between two places use the distance calculator; to look up coordinates for many addresses one by one, the address to lat long converter; to change coordinate formats, the coordinate converter.
Map Radius Tool FAQ
How do I draw a radius on a map?
Find the centre by address or coordinates, type the radius in km or miles, and the circle is drawn at once. Press Show on OpenStreetMap to see it on the street map.
Can I draw a radius in miles?
Yes — choose miles next to the radius. Each circle can use its own unit.
Can I draw several circles at once?
Yes, up to six, for example 5, 10 and 20 km rings around a shop, or circles around different towns.
How do I see what is within a radius?
List places as “name; lat, lon” under What falls inside, or click the map in “adds a point” mode. Each place is marked inside or outside with its distance.
Why does my circle look like an oval?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches distances away from the equator. A true circle on the Earth looks taller than it is wide on such a map, especially far north or south.
Can I use the circle in Google Earth or QGIS?
Yes — download KML for Google Earth or GeoJSON for QGIS, web maps and most GIS tools.