Use the free tool below: your data never leaves your browser — all work happens on your device, and nothing is uploaded to any server.
What it is
A bearing between two points is the compass direction you set off in to travel from one latitude and longitude to another, measured in degrees clockwise from north. North is 0 degrees, east is 90, south is 180, and west is 270, and the tool also gives the great-circle distance between the points, which is the shortest path over the Earth’s surface.
Bearings matter wherever a straight compass course is the plan: sailing a leg, flying a heading, or walking a bearing across open ground. Without a bearing you have two points on a map but no direction to follow, and on featureless ground or water that is the difference between arriving and wandering.
How to use it
Enter the start latitude and longitude and the end latitude and longitude, in decimal degrees, with minus signs for south and west. Press Calculate and you get the initial bearing in degrees and as a 16-point compass direction, plus the distance in kilometres and nautical miles.
Check the sign of every coordinate before you trust the result: swapping a minus sign can put a point on the wrong side of the world and give a bearing that looks precise but is completely wrong.
Worked example
From London, about 51.5 north and 0.12 west, to Paris, about 48.85 north and 2.35 east, the initial bearing is about 156 degrees, or south-south-east, and the distance is about 343 kilometres. A walker or sailor setting off on that leg would steer roughly south-south-east, and the bearing would change slowly as they travelled, because a great-circle path curves on a flat map.
From the equator at 0, 0 to a point one degree east, the bearing is exactly 90 degrees, due east, over about 111 kilometres, which is a useful check that the tool behaves as expected on simple cases.
How to read your result
Initial bearing is the direction at the start of the route. On short legs it stays effectively constant, but on long routes it drifts as you follow the great circle, so navigators break long routes into shorter legs and take a fresh bearing for each one. The compass point, like SSE, is the same bearing rounded to the nearest of sixteen directions, which is handy for a quick read but less precise than the degrees.
Distance in nautical miles is the distance sailors and pilots use: divide kilometres by 1.852, or read it directly from the result.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is entering coordinates in the wrong order, latitude before longitude, or with the wrong sign. Another is treating the initial bearing as a constant course for a very long route, which slowly bends away from the great circle. A third is confusing true bearings with magnetic bearings: this tool gives true bearings from coordinates, and you must apply magnetic declination separately before steering by compass.
Limits
The calculation assumes a spherical Earth, which is accurate to well under one percent for planning, and it gives a true bearing, not a magnetic one. It does not know about land, hazards, or airspace, so it is a geometry tool for planning, not a substitute for charts, a compass check, and local knowledge.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a bearing and a heading?
A bearing is the direction to a point. A heading is the direction you actually point, which differs when wind or current pushes you sideways, so you steer a heading that compensates for drift to hold the bearing.
Why does the bearing change on a long route?
Because the shortest path over a sphere curves when drawn on a flat map. Following the initial bearing forever traces a rhumb line, not a great circle, and ends up somewhere else on long distances.
Do I need magnetic declination too?
Yes, if you steer by compass. Convert the true bearing with your local declination from an official model or chart before you follow it with a magnetic compass.
Related calculators
- Spanish version
- Hiking Time Estimator – Naismith’s Rule for Distance and Climb
- Magnetic Declination Converter – True, Magnetic and Compass Bearings