SnapDistance uses essential cookies for preferences and optional Google Analytics cookies with your consent. No advertising cookies.
The Cookie Policy outlines which cookies and similar technologies may be used on SnapDistance, what they do, and how visitors can manage them in their browser settings.
It is intended to give users a clear view of preference-related storage, analytics-related usage where applicable, and the absence of advertising or profiling systems across the service.
For broader context, visitors can also review the Privacy Policy and Help & Support pages linked below.
Every distance on SnapDistance is computed with the Haversine formula, which measures the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere. The formula uses the latitude and longitude of each city — sourced from OpenStreetMap and Photon — and returns the shortest path along the Earth's surface. This is the same technique used by aviation route planners, maritime navigators, and most modern mapping APIs.
Results are returned in kilometres, miles, and nautical miles. SnapDistance also estimates flight time using a representative cruise speed of approximately 900 km/h plus 30 minutes of taxi, takeoff, and landing overhead. Driving time is approximated by multiplying the great-circle distance by 1.3 (a typical road-network detour factor) and dividing by an average highway speed. These estimates are designed for planning, not for operational navigation.
Because all calculations run client-side in your browser, no city pair you enter is ever sent to a SnapDistance server. The only network requests made by the calculator are to the Photon geocoding API for autocomplete, and (with your consent) to Google Analytics for anonymous usage statistics.
SnapDistance is a free informational tool. The numbers it returns — kilometres, miles, nautical miles, estimated flight time, estimated driving time, and timezone offsets — are intended for general planning, education, and curiosity. They are not certified for safety-critical, navigational, regulatory, contractual, or commercial-aviation use.
The service does not require account creation, does not collect personally identifiable information, and does not sell or share user data with third parties. Optional Google Analytics 4 is loaded only after the visitor grants consent through the cookie banner; declining consent fully disables the analytics script.
If a visitor has questions about how SnapDistance handles a specific scenario, the help and support page provides links to the FAQ, the privacy policy, the cookie policy, and the legal disclaimer, all of which together describe how the service operates and what visitors should expect.
Distances are computed with the Haversine formula and city coordinates from OpenStreetMap, so the great-circle figure is accurate to within a few hundred metres for almost any city pair. Flight and driving time estimates are deliberate approximations — flight time uses a representative cruise speed and adds taxi/takeoff overhead, and driving time multiplies straight-line distance by 1.3 to approximate real road routing. Always confirm with a routing service before booking.
Great-circle distance is the shortest path between two points along the surface of the Earth, treating the planet as a sphere. Driving distance follows actual roads, which add detours around terrain, water, and political borders. On most continents, the driving distance is roughly 1.2–1.5× the great-circle distance.
Yes. The calculator, every city-hub page, every country page, the comparison tool, and all guides are free and require no account. There are no usage limits, no paywalls, and no ads.
No. All distance calculations run inside your browser, so the city pairs you enter are never sent to a SnapDistance server. The only data the site can see is anonymous Google Analytics traffic, and only if you accept the analytics cookie when you first visit.
Yes. SnapDistance is a Progressive Web App. Once you have visited the site, you can add it to your home screen on iOS or Android, or install it as a desktop app on Chrome and Edge. The cached pages and the calculator continue to work without an internet connection.