Compass Bearing Calculator

About this calculator

This calculator finds the initial compass bearing and great-circle distance between two latitude/longitude coordinates, using spherical trigonometry (the same formula behind the Haversine distance calculation). The bearing is the compass direction — from 0° (north) to 360° — you'd need to head at the start of the journey to follow the shortest path over the Earth's curved surface.

Pilots, sailors, and navigators use this to plot great-circle routes, since flying or sailing a constant bearing isn't the same as taking the shortest path on a sphere — the true bearing actually changes gradually along a great-circle route. It's also used in orienteering, geocaching, and GIS applications. Enter the two coordinates to get both the initial bearing and the distance between them.