Antipode Finder
Find the exact opposite side of the Earth from any location. Tap the GPS button, search any address, or click anywhere on the world map. The result panel shows the country (or ocean) at the antipode, both pins on a single map, distance through Earth (12,742 km), distance around Earth (20,015 km), and the antipode in three coordinate formats.
What an antipode is — and why ours is the most accurate one online
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 centre 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).
Every antipode pair is separated by the same distance: half the great-circle circumference of the Earth, which is π × R = 20,015 km(12,437 mi). Through the Earth, the straight-line distance equals the diameter: 2 × R = 12,742 km(7,918 mi). Those are constants — they do not change with location.
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. The probability that a random point on Earth and its antipode are both on land is only about 4–5%. This tool uses Natural Earth 50-metre 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.
- 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.
- 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?"
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 recurring patterns we see in the analytics.
The "dig a hole through the Earth" question
Every kid asks: if I dug straight down, where would I come out? The answer is almost never China. For most of the United States, the antipode lands in the southern Indian Ocean — somewhere between Madagascar and Australia. The tool gives you the exact lat/lng, the nearest country, and the distance straight through the Earth (12,742 km / 7,918 mi at the mean diameter).
Geography classroom and science fair projects
A common geography exercise: pick a famous city, then find what country (or ocean) lies directly opposite. The tool produces shareable coordinates and a screenshot-able map showing both pins, which works well for student presentations on Earth geometry, hemispheres, the International Date Line, and the 71%-water surface area of the planet.
Antipodal great-circle and travel-routing curiosity
Two antipodal points are the maximum possible distance apart on Earth — exactly π × R = 20,015 km along the surface, or one half-circumference. Every great-circle route between an antipode pair is the same length, which is why airlines have flexibility about which way to route ultra-long-haul flights between near-antipodal cities (Auckland to Madrid, for example, can theoretically fly any direction and cover the same distance).
Trivia, quizzes, and fact-checking
Common myths the tool quickly debunks: New York is the antipode of China (false — it is in the Indian Ocean off Australia); London is the antipode of New Zealand (close — actual antipode of London is in the Pacific Ocean south of New Zealand); the United States is the antipode of Russia (false — the US lower 48 is mostly opposite the Indian Ocean). Every misconception is one click away from the correct answer.
Sailing, aviation, and circumnavigation planning
For round-the-world sailing or flying, the antipode is the natural halfway point — the place that is, by definition, the maximum distance you can be from your home port. Planners use antipode coordinates to identify the equidistant turn-around or supply-rendezvous point. The tool gives you exact lat/lng for that calculation.
Photo geotagging and Instagram-worthy facts
Photographers and travel writers use antipode lookups for "you are now standing at the exact opposite of X" content. The tool surfaces both the country at your antipode and the distance around the Earth, plus a side-by-side coordinate strip you can paste into a caption.
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.
| Origin | Antipode | Note |
|---|---|---|
| New York City, USA | Indian Ocean (≈300 mi SW of Augusta, Western Australia) | Common misconception: most New Yorkers think the antipode is China — it is actually open ocean. |
| Beijing, China | Argentina (≈40 mi NE of Bahía Blanca) | One of the rare large-city land-to-land antipodes. China-Argentina is the most famous antipodal-country pair. |
| Madrid, Spain | Weber, New Zealand (Hawke’s Bay region, North Island) | Spain–New Zealand is the canonical European-to-Oceanic antipodal-country pair. |
| Auckland, New Zealand | Seville region, Spain (near Marchena) | A symmetrical mirror to the Madrid → NZ pair above. |
| Tokyo, Japan | Atlantic Ocean (≈2,000 km E of Buenos Aires, Argentina) | Japanese antipodes fall in the South Atlantic, between South America and Africa. |
| London, UK | Pacific Ocean (≈700 km SE of New Zealand) | British antipodes are deep Pacific — far from any landmass. |
| Singapore | Pacific Ocean (≈1,500 km W of Ecuador) | Equatorial antipode pair — Singapore at 1°N, antipode at 1°S, both straddling the equator. |
| Hawaii (Big Island) | Botswana / South Africa border region | One of the few US-state antipodes to land on populated terra firma. |
| Bermuda | Western Australia (≈Perth region) | A North-Atlantic-to-Indian-Ocean coast pair. |
| Hamilton, New Zealand | Córdoba, Spain | Two cities that are very close to true antipodes — within ~100 km. |
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.
| Quantity | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mean diameter of Earth | 12,742 km / 7,918 mi | IUGG mean radius × 2 |
| Half the equatorial circumference (great-circle distance to any antipode) | 20,015 km / 12,437 mi | π × mean radius |
| Surface area of Earth that is ocean | ≈ 71% | NOAA / NASA |
| Surface area that is land | ≈ 29% | NOAA / NASA |
| Probability a random antipode pair is land-to-land | ≈ 4.4% (29% × 29% × adjustment) | Empirical: roughly 4% of land has a land antipode |
| Largest connected land-to-land antipodal region | East Asia (China, Mongolia) ↔ South America (Argentina, Chile) | Geographic analysis |
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\u2019s country boundaries (50 m resolution, ~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 (~0.3% difference) — 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) in parallel to label them with a human-readable place. Nominatim is free, has worldwide coverage, and respects a 1-request-per-second policy (we batch the two calls into a single round-trip).
SimpleMapLab vs other antipode tools
Honest comparison with the major free antipode tools online. Each tool wins different scenarios — this is a feature checklist, not a value judgement.
| Feature | SimpleMapLab | antipodesmap.com | Google Maps | Wolfram Alpha | Geocode APIs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, no sign-up | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited / paid |
| Single map with both pins (input + antipode) | ✓ | Side-by-side | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Country / ocean detection at the antipode | ✓ | Limited | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (pro) |
| Distance through Earth (diameter) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (formula) | ✗ |
| Distance around Earth (half-circumference) | ✓ | Limited | ✗ | ✓ (formula) | ✗ |
| Hemisphere flip indicator | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| DD, DMS, DDM formats with copy | ✓ | DD only | DD only | Limited | API only |
| Search box with worldwide autocomplete | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | API only |
| Click-on-map interaction | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| GPS button | ✓ | Limited | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mobile-first interface | ✓ | Partial | ✓ | Desktop-first | ✗ |
Why most antipodes are in the ocean — the 71% rule
Roughly 71% of the Earth\u2019s 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 even lower — about 4–5% — 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:
- East Asia ↔ South America. Most of central and western China, plus parts of Mongolia and Tibet, sit opposite Argentina, Chile, and parts of Bolivia. This is by far the largest connected land-to-land antipodal region, which is why "if you dig a hole in China you come out in Argentina" is approximately true.
- Iberian Peninsula ↔ New Zealand. Spain and Portugal are roughly opposite New Zealand\u2019s North and South Islands. Hamilton, NZ is close to Córdoba, Spain; Christchurch is close to A Coruña region.
- Southeast Asia ↔ Northern South America. Parts of Borneo, Malaysia, and Indonesia partially overlap with Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru — though both regions straddle the equator with significant ocean coverage.
- Hawaii ↔ Botswana. The Hawaiian Islands are roughly opposite the Botswana / Namibia / South Africa border region — a rare US-state-to-Africa pair.
- Greenland ↔ Antarctica. Far north opposite far south — one ice continent for another.
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.
Capitalised, "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\u2019s actual antipode is in the South Pacific, not in New Zealand; the closest near-antipode pair is Wellington ↔ a point in Spain near Salamanca. 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
Antipode math: arithmetic on the spherical Earth model — antipode of (φ, λ) is (-φ, λ ± 180°) with longitudes wrapped into the ±180° range. Distance constants: IUGG mean Earth radius 6,371 km, mean diameter 12,742 km, half-circumference π × R = 20,015.1 km. Country detection at the antipode: standard ray-casting point-in-polygon test against Natural Earth 1:50,000,000 cultural vectors (CC0 public domain, 241 country features). Ocean inference falls back to a quadrant heuristic when no polygon matches. Place names: OpenStreetMap Nominatim reverse-geocoder. Map basemap: OpenFreeMap Liberty vector tiles. Country metadata (flag, capital, currency, calling code) for the antipode card: ISO 3166-1, UN World Population Prospects 2024, CIA World Factbook, ISO 4217, ITU-T E.164. All data is public-domain or permissively licensed; no API keys, no rate limits, no data leaves your browser beyond the optional Nominatim enrichment query.
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Find the GPS coordinates of any location. DD, DMS, and DDM formats.