Does it handle polar and antimeridian cases?

Yes. The formula handles routes that cross the equator, the prime meridian, or the international dateline. It also handles routes that pass near or over the poles, although bearings near the poles are more sensitive to small changes because all meridians converge there.

Destination Point Calculator - Find Endpoint from

Q: What is a destination point calculation?

A destination point calculation, also called the direct problem of geodesy, takes a starting latitude and longitude, an initial compass bearing, and a distance to travel, and returns the latitude and longitude you would arrive at. It is the inverse of the bearing-and-distance calculation, which takes two points and computes the bearing and distance between them. This calculator uses the standard spherical great-circle direct formula with Earth's mean radius of 6371 kilometers.

Q: What is an initial bearing?

An initial bearing is the compass direction you would face at the very start of a great-circle route. Because great circles curve on a sphere, the bearing along the route changes continuously, which is why we specify the bearing at the starting point. A bearing of 0 degrees means due north, 90 is east, 180 is south, and 270 is west, measured clockwise from north.

Q: How accurate is the calculation?

This calculator assumes a perfectly spherical Earth with a mean radius of 6371 km, which gives accuracy of about 0.5 percent for most practical distances. For professional surveying, aviation, or maritime navigation, use Vincenty's direct formula or a WGS-84 ellipsoidal solver for higher precision. For casual navigation, hiking, trip planning, and general geographic work the spherical result is more than accurate enough.

Q: What can I use this for?

Destination point calculations are useful for any task where you have a start, a direction, and a distance and need a precise endpoint: finding the location of a radar contact, projecting a drone flight path, plotting a ship's course, extending a surveying baseline, or building simulations and games that track movement on a geographic map. It is also handy for hikers and pilots who need to know where a straight leg of their route will put them.

Calculate the destination latitude and longitude from a starting coordinate, an initial bearing, and a travel distance along a great-circle route.

How to Use the Destination Point Calculator

Enter the latitude and longitude of your starting point, the compass bearing you intend to travel, and the distance you want to cover. Choose the distance unit (kilometers, miles, nautical miles, or meters) and the calculator instantly returns the coordinates of the destination. The default example starts in New York City heading roughly northeast at 51 degrees for 5570 kilometers, which lands close to London, demonstrating how the great-circle direct formula matches real-world transatlantic routes.

The Great-Circle Direct Formula

The spherical direct formula takes a starting latitude and longitude, an angular distance (distance divided by Earth's radius), and an initial bearing, and returns the destination latitude and longitude. It is a closed-form trigonometric expression that uses the latitude and bearing at the start point, along with the distance to travel. The same formula is used in flight management systems, GIS software, and any application that needs to predict where a moving object will end up given its current position, heading, and speed.

When to Use This Calculator

Destination point calculations appear in many real-world problems. Air traffic controllers use them to predict where an aircraft will be at a given time. Radar operators use them to translate a detected range and bearing from a station into a target coordinate. Hikers and sailors use them to project a leg of a route to a waypoint. Drone operators and autonomous vehicle planners use them when building paths. Surveyors extend baselines with them. Game developers use them in world simulations that need to track characters on a real or fictional planet.

Bearing and Distance Tips

Remember that a bearing is a true compass direction measured clockwise from geographic north, not from magnetic north. If you have a magnetic bearing from a handheld compass, you must apply your local magnetic declination before using it here. Also remember that great-circle bearings change along the route: the bearing returned by this formula is the initial bearing at the starting point, not the average bearing across the entire journey. For long routes you should re-compute the bearing at intermediate waypoints.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a destination point calculation?

It takes a starting coordinate, an initial bearing, and a distance, and returns the endpoint along a great-circle route.

What is an initial bearing?

The compass direction at the start of a great-circle route. Because the bearing changes along the route, we specify the direction only at the starting point.

How accurate is the calculation?

About 0.5 percent, using a mean Earth radius. For survey-grade work, use Vincenty or a WGS-84 solver.

What can I use this for?

Air traffic prediction, radar plotting, drone paths, sailing waypoints, surveying, simulations, and games.

Does it handle antimeridian crossings?

Yes. The formula normalizes longitude correctly even if the great-circle path crosses the international dateline or approaches the poles.

Destination Point Calculator

Destination