Enter two places below to see the true shortest path between them, curved over the Earth’s surface — like an airline flight route — compared to a plain straight line on the map.
We do not log or store the places you search for.
This tool sends your input directly from your browser to Open-Meteo, a free geocoding API.
Looking up places…
How This Works
On a flat map, the shortest path between two far-apart places is not a straight line — it’s a curve, because the Earth is a sphere. This is why long-haul flight paths on a map look curved rather than direct. This tool draws both: a plain straight line (grey, dashed) for comparison, and the actual shortest “great circle” path (amber, solid) that a plane would really fly.
FAQ
Why do the two lines look almost the same for nearby places?
The curvature only becomes visually significant over long distances (typically 1,000+ km). For nearby places, a straight line and the great-circle path are nearly identical.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
Place names are sent to Open-Meteo’s free geocoding API to find their coordinates; the route itself is calculated locally in your browser.