A compass bearing calculator tells you which direction to travel from one GPS location to another. Enter two coordinate pairs and get the initial bearing (true north reference), the cardinal direction, a back bearing, and the great-circle distance. A visual compass rose shows the bearing direction at a glance.
Enter Coordinates
Point A (Origin)
Example: New York City (40.7128, -74.0060)
Point B (Destination)
Example: London (51.5074, -0.1278)
Results
How to Use the Compass Bearing Calculator
The compass bearing calculator finds the direction to travel from one GPS location to reach another. This is essential for orienteering, sailing, aviation, hiking, and any navigation that requires knowing your heading.
Step 1: Enter Your Starting Point (Point A)
Enter the latitude and longitude of your origin in Decimal Degrees format (positive = North/East, negative = South/West). For example, New York City is latitude 40.7128, longitude -74.0060. You can look up any city's coordinates using the Latitude Longitude Finder.
Step 2: Enter Your Destination (Point B)
Enter the latitude and longitude of your destination. For example, London is 51.5074, -0.1278. If you only know city names, use the Latitude Longitude Finder first to get coordinates, then paste them here.
Step 3: Read the Results
The calculator shows four values: Initial Bearing — the direction to face at Point A to head toward Point B (0° = North, 90° = East, 180° = South, 270° = West). Cardinal Direction — the 16-point compass label (N, NNE, NE, ENE, etc.). Back Bearing — the direction back from B to A. Final Bearing — the direction you'll be traveling when you arrive at B. The compass rose rotates to show the initial bearing visually.
Understanding Initial vs Final Bearing
For short distances, initial and final bearings are nearly identical. For long distances (like city-to-city travel), they can differ significantly because Earth's curvature means the "straight" path appears to curve on a flat map. For example, flying from New York to London, you start heading roughly NE (~51°) but arrive heading roughly ESE (~118°) — you've curved around Earth's curvature the entire way.
True North vs Magnetic North
This calculator returns true bearing referenced to geographic north. If you're using a physical compass, you must adjust for magnetic declination — the local angle between true north and magnetic north. In New York City, magnetic declination is approximately 13° West, meaning compass north is 13° west of true north. Look up your local declination to correct your compass heading.
The 16-Point Compass Rose
The tool reports cardinal direction using 16 points: N (337.5°-22.5°), NNE (22.5°-45°), NE (45°-67.5°), ENE (67.5°-90°), E (90°-112.5°), ESE (112.5°-135°), SE (135°-157.5°), SSE (157.5°-180°), S (180°-202.5°), SSW (202.5°-225°), SW (225°-247.5°), WSW (247.5°-270°), W (270°-292.5°), WNW (292.5°-315°), NW (315°-337.5°), NNW (337.5°-360°).
FAQ
Is this bearing calculator free?
Yes, completely free. No signup, no account, and no location data sent to any server. All calculations run locally in your browser.
Is my location data safe?
All bearing calculations run entirely in your browser using JavaScript math. No coordinates are ever sent to our servers.
What is an initial bearing vs a final bearing?
The initial bearing is the direction you face at the starting point to head toward the destination. The final bearing is the direction you're traveling when you arrive at the destination. For long distances, these differ because you're traveling along Earth's curved surface.
What is a back bearing?
The back bearing (reverse azimuth) is the initial bearing plus 180 degrees — it's the direction from the destination back to the origin. If the initial bearing is 51° NE, the back bearing is 231° SW.
What is the difference between true north and magnetic north?
True north is the geographic North Pole. Magnetic north is where a compass needle points, which varies by location and changes over time. This calculator returns true bearing. To use it with a physical compass, you need to apply the local magnetic declination, which you can look up with the Magnetic Declination Lookup tool.
What is a 16-point compass rose?
A 16-point compass divides 360° into 16 equal sectors of 22.5° each: N, NNE, NE, ENE, E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW, NNW. This provides more precision than the basic 8-point (N, NE, E, SE...) compass while remaining human-readable.
How does the Haversine formula work?
The Haversine formula calculates great-circle distances between two points on a sphere using their latitudes and longitudes. It uses the haversine trigonometric function (half the versine of an angle) to avoid numerical errors near the poles. It's accurate to within 0.3% for most Earth distances.