Antipode Finder

By Marko Visic · Updated Oct 24, 2026

Find the exact opposite point on Earth from any place — dig straight down through the planet, and this is where you’d come out. Search, tap the map, or use GPS, then switch to the interactive 3D globe to watch a line drill straight through the Earth’s core to the far side.

What an antipode is

An antipode is the point on Earth that is diametrically opposite to a given location — the place where you would emerge if you drilled a perfectly straight hole through the center of the planet. For any point at latitude φ and longitude λ, the antipode is (-φ, λ ± 180°). Latitude flips sign (north becomes south), and longitude shifts by exactly half the world (east becomes west or vice versa).

On a sphere with Earth's mean radius, every antipode pair is 20,015 km (12,437 mi) apart along the surface and 12,742 km (7,918 mi) apart through the center. On the real, slightly flattened Earth (WGS-84) the surface distance runs from 20,004 km pole to pole to 20,037.5 km along the Equator.

What does change is the answer to "what is at my antipode?" The Earth is about 71% ocean, so most antipodes land in open water. About 13% of the world’s land has land directly opposite it, which is about 4% of Earth’s surface (our calculation from Natural Earth 1:50m land polygons, October 2026). This tool uses Natural Earth 1:50m (1:50,000,000-scale) country boundaries to detect which country (if any) lies at the antipode, and falls back to a Pacific/Atlantic/Indian/Arctic/Southern ocean inference for points in open water.

How to find the antipode of any location

Five paths to the same answer; pick whichever fits your context.

1. Allow location access (or skip). Tap "Use my location" — your browser asks for permission to read your GPS. Granting it computes your antipode in under a second. If you prefer not to share location, skip GPS and use search or click the map.
2. Or search any place worldwide. Type a city, address, landmark, or postal code. Photon autocomplete shows matching places worldwide; pick one and the antipode resolves instantly. Useful for "what is on the opposite side of London?" or "where is the antipode of New York?"
3. Or click anywhere on the world map. Pinch to zoom into the area you are curious about, then tap once. A green pin marks your input; a red pin appears at the antipode (the exact opposite point on Earth). The map auto-frames both pins so you can see them together.
4. Read the result panel. The hero shows the country (or ocean) at the antipode with a flag emoji. Below: the input vs antipode coordinate pair, distance through Earth (12,742 km), distance around Earth (20,015 km), the hemisphere flip, and the antipode in three coordinate formats — DD, DMS, and DDM — each with a copy button.
5. Copy or share the antipode coordinates. Each format card has a one-tap copy button. The decimal degrees (DD) format is the most common for web maps; DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds) is standard in maritime and aviation; DDM (degrees and decimal minutes) is the GPS receiver default.

What people use this tool for

Six common use cases.

Famous antipodes — what is on the opposite side of these cities?

A reference of well-known cities and what lies on the other side of the planet. Most antipodes hit ocean, which is why the few land-to-land pairs (China–Argentina, Spain–New Zealand) are famous in geographic literature.

The mathematics of antipodes — the constants behind the result

Every figure shown in the result panel is derived from a small set of Earth-shape constants. The numbers below are the basis of every distance calculation in the tool.

How the antipode calculation actually works

1. The arithmetic

We negate the latitude and shift the longitude by 180°. If the new longitude exceeds 180° we subtract 360°; if it is below -180° we add 360°. The result stays in the standard ±180° range. The math is exact — there is no rounding error, no projection, no datum conversion. The antipode of (40.7128, -74.0060) is (-40.7128, 105.9940) every time.

2. Land or ocean detection

Once we have the antipode coordinate, we run a point-in-polygon test against Natural Earth’s 1:50m (1:50,000,000-scale) country boundaries (~241 country features). If the point falls inside a country polygon we report that country; if not, we infer the ocean from the latitude/longitude — Arctic above 66°N, Southern below 60°S, then Pacific / Atlantic / Indian by quadrant.

3. Distance figures

The two distance figures (through Earth and around Earth) are constants for any antipode pair. Through Earth = 2 × R. Around Earth (great circle) = π × R. We use the IUGG mean radius of 6,371 km, which gives 12,742 km diameter and 20,015 km half-circumference. Using the WGS-84 ellipsoid would give slightly different numbers (within about 0.2%) — for an antipode tool, the spherical model is the right choice.

4. Place name labels

We call the OpenStreetMap Nominatim reverse-geocoder for both pins (input + antipode) one after the other, at most one request per second, as Nominatim's usage policy requires. Nominatim is free and has worldwide coverage.

Why most antipodes are in the ocean — the 71% rule

Roughly 71% of the Earth’s surface is ocean. If land were uniformly distributed, the probability that a random point and its antipode are both on land would be about 8.4% (29% × 29%). Empirically the figure is lower: about 13% of the world’s land has land directly opposite it, which is about 4% of Earth’s surface (our calculation from Natural Earth 1:50m land polygons, October 2026). That is because landmasses are correlated: most land is concentrated in the northern hemisphere, with large oceans (Pacific, southern Indian, southern Atlantic) on the opposite side.

The major land-to-land antipodal regions, in rough size order, are:

1. East Asia ↔ South America. China ↔ Argentina covers about 2.0 million km², plus China ↔ Chile (0.45 million) and Mongolia ↔ Argentina (0.27 million). It is eastern and central China that sits opposite Argentina and Chile; western China and Tibet are opposite the Pacific.
2. Greenland ↔ Antarctica. About 1.8 million km².
3. Arctic Canada ↔ Antarctica (1.5 million km²) and Arctic Russia ↔ Antarctica (0.6 million km²).
4. Southeast Asia ↔ northern South America. Indonesia ↔ Brazil (0.5 million km²), Indonesia ↔ Colombia (0.32 million) and the Philippines ↔ Brazil (0.25 million), plus smaller pairs with Venezuela, Malaysia and Vietnam–Peru.
5. Spain ↔ New Zealand. Smaller. Portugal’s antipodes fall just off New Zealand’s west coast, in the Tasman Sea.
6. Hawaii ↔ Botswana. Small.

The word "antipode" — etymology and historical use

"Antipode" comes from the Greek antípodes — literally "feet opposite", from antí (opposite, against) and poús (foot). In ancient Greek geography, the antipodes were thought to be a hypothetical race of people living on the other side of the spherical Earth, "with their feet against ours". The word entered English in the 14th century with the same meaning.

Capitalized, "the Antipodes" is a colloquial British term for Australia and New Zealand — because they are roughly antipodal to the British Isles. Geographically the term is loose: London’s actual antipode is in the South Pacific, not in New Zealand; among capitals, Madrid and Wellington come close: Madrid's antipode is about 160 km from Wellington. But the historical association is firm enough that "Antipodes" remains a common shorthand for the region.

Related tools and resources

For the country at your current location: What Country Am I In?. For the great-circle distance between any two specific points (not just antipodes): Distance Between Two Places. For the midpoint between two locations (the opposite of an antipode pair): Halfway Between Two Places. For coordinates of a specific place: Latitude & Longitude Finder. For converting between coordinate formats: GPS Coordinate Converter. For elevation and time zone at any point: Elevation Finder and Time Zone Finder.

Frequently asked questions

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