What is the straight-line distance (as the crow flies) between two cities?
Quick Answer: The straight-line distance between two cities is the shortest distance over the earth’s surface, calculated using their latitude and longitude coordinates. For example, the straight-line distance between New York City and Los Angeles is about 2,450 miles (3,940 kilometers).
This distance, often called the "as the crow flies" distance, ignores roads, terrain, or travel routes. It’s the most direct path between two points on the globe.
To find it, we use formulas like the Haversine formula, which accounts for the earth’s curvature. This helps get an accurate measurement rather than a simple flat distance.