Bearing & Distance Calculator
Whole-circle bearing (WCB), reduced bearing and horizontal distance between two points — straight from easting/northing coordinates.
Enter both points — bearing and distance appear instantly. Everything is calculated in your browser.
Full traverse work — offline, in the field?
The free Land Surveyor app does bearings, traverse adjustment with closure checks, resection, curves, area and CSV/DXF export — 40+ tools that work without internet.
How bearing and distance are calculated
Given two points A (E₁, N₁) and B (E₂, N₂) on a plane grid, the direction and length of the line A→B follow directly from the coordinate differences:
- ΔE = E₂ − E₁ and ΔN = N₂ − N₁
- Distance = √(ΔE² + ΔN²)
- WCB = atan2(ΔE, ΔN), measured clockwise from grid north, 0°–360°
The quadrant is determined by the signs of ΔE and ΔN: both positive puts the line in the first quadrant (N…E), positive ΔE with negative ΔN in the second (S…E), and so on. This calculator handles all four quadrants and the cardinal directions automatically.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate bearing from two coordinates?
Compute ΔE = E₂ − E₁ and ΔN = N₂ − N₁, then the whole-circle bearing is atan2(ΔE, ΔN) converted to degrees, normalised to 0°–360°. This calculator does that instantly and also shows the result in degrees-minutes-seconds.
What is the difference between WCB and reduced bearing?
A whole-circle bearing (WCB) is measured clockwise from north as a single angle between 0° and 360°. A reduced (quadrantal) bearing expresses the same direction as an angle up to 90° from either north or south, toward east or west — for example WCB 135° equals S 45° E.
How is the distance between two survey points calculated?
The horizontal (grid) distance is √(ΔE² + ΔN²) — simple Pythagoras on the coordinate differences. This is the plane distance used in traverse and setting-out work.
Can I use this for traverse calculations in the field?
Yes — and for full traverse work with closure checks, adjustments, area and CSV/DXF export that runs offline, the free Land Surveyor Android app by APPNEST includes all of it plus 40+ other tools.
More free tools: browse all APPNEST surveying tools.