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Travel Coordinate Bearing

Find the initial bearing between two coordinates for navigation.

About Travel Coordinate Bearing

The initial bearing is the compass direction you would set at point A to head straight toward point B over a sphere. Normalizing into 0-360 degrees and adding 180 gives the reciprocal return bearing. Knowing the bearing between two coordinates supports navigation, route orientation and understanding flight or sailing headings between places.

Formula

Travel Coordinate Bearing

bearing = atan2(sin(dlon)cos(p2), cos(p1)sin(p2) - sin(p1)cos(p2)cos(dlon))

bearing
Compass direction from point A toward point B

Worked example

With the default values below, Travel Coordinate Bearing returns Initial Bearing of 52.5. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Latitude point Aaccepts -90–90 deg
40 deg
Longitude point Aaccepts -180–180 deg
10 deg
Latitude point Baccepts -90–90 deg
45 deg
Longitude point Baccepts -180–180 deg
20 deg

Results

Initial Bearing
52.5 deg
Compass Quadrant
Northeast
Return Bearing
232.5 deg

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Travel Coordinate Bearing
  3. 3Initial Bearing= 52.5 deg
  4. 4Compass Quadrant= Northeast
  5. 5Return Bearing= 232.5 deg

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Travel Coordinate Bearing calculated?

bearing = atan2(sin(dlon)cos(p2), cos(p1)sin(p2) - sin(p1)cos(p2)cos(dlon)) The initial bearing is the compass direction you would set at point A to head straight toward point B over a sphere. Normalizing into 0-360 degrees and adding 180 gives the reciprocal return bearing.

Why does Travel Coordinate Bearing matter?

Knowing the bearing between two coordinates supports navigation, route orientation and understanding flight or sailing headings between places.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 4 inputs: Latitude point A, Longitude point A, Latitude point B, Longitude point B. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

Related Calculators

Travel Coordinate Bearing | Calcrivo