Midpoint calculator
Find the midpoint of a spherical WGS84 great-circle path between two coordinates.
How it works & useful details
How it works & limits
Finds the halfway point along a spherical great-circle path, using WGS84 latitude and longitude. It is not the arithmetic average of the two coordinate pairs.
Exactly antipodal points have no unique great-circle midpoint and are reported as an error.
Private local calculation
Coordinates and pasted data stay in this browser tab. These tools use no map tiles, geocoding, routing, elevation data or network requests.
About this tool
Midpoint calculator finds the halfway point along the great-circle path between two WGS84 coordinates. On longer distances this differs from simply averaging latitude and longitude, which is why the result can be surprising.
The midpoint is computed on the sphere, with the heading at the midpoint reported as well. Calculation is local and no mapping service is contacted.
How to use it
- Enter the two coordinates.
- Calculate to get the great-circle midpoint.
- Check the reported distance and heading for context.
- Copy the midpoint coordinate.
Worked example
The great-circle midpoint between London (51.5074, −0.1278) and New York (40.7128, −74.006) is 52.3684, −41.2903, in the North Atlantic. Its latitude is higher than both endpoints. Averaging the coordinates instead gives 46.11, −37.07, a point about 760 km away that is not on the shortest path at all.
This is the same curvature you see on flight maps, where transatlantic routes arc toward Greenland and Iceland.
When the midpoint is useful
Use it to find a fair meeting point between two places, to place a label on the middle of a long connection, or to split a route into halves for planning. For short distances within a city, the great-circle midpoint and the simple average are practically identical. For long distances and high latitudes the difference grows quickly.
Exactly opposite points on the globe (antipodes) have infinitely many great circles between them, so there is no single midpoint, and the calculator reports an error instead of choosing one arbitrarily.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the midpoint not the average of the coordinates?
Averaging coordinates ignores the curvature of the Earth. The great-circle midpoint is the point that is equidistant along the actual spherical path.
Can it handle points on opposite sides of the globe?
There are infinitely many equidistant midpoints for exact antipodes; the tool reports the ambiguity rather than pretending otherwise.
Is any coordinate uploaded?
No. The calculation is local and makes no network requests.
Is the midpoint halfway in travel time?
No. It is halfway along the great-circle distance. Travel time depends on the actual route, speed, and conditions.