How far is Vietnam from Australia?
It depends what you mean by “from”, and the answers are not close. Measured capital to capital, Hanoi to Canberra, it is 7,748 km, a flight of about ten hours. Measured between the biggest cities, Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney, it is 6,839 km. Measured from Hanoi to the nearest part of Australia, it is 4,480 km. Same two countries, a spread of more than 3,000 km. A country is not a point, and this page does not pretend it is: all three readings are one click apart.
Is Australia farther from Vietnam than Turkey is?
It depends which reading you pick, and the answer reverses. Capital to capital, Australia is farther: 7,748 km against 7,106 km to Ankara. Between the biggest cities, Turkey is farther: 8,194 km to Istanbul against 6,839 km to Sydney. By closest point Turkey is farther again, 6,091 km against 4,480 km. There is no single answer to the question, only an answer for each way of counting.
Why do flat maps get distance wrong?
Because the map in your head is almost certainly Mercator, which keeps shapes and angles right and gives up everything else. Its scale is correct only along the equator and stretches toward the poles: at 60 degrees north a degree of longitude is drawn twice as long as it should be. A ruler laid on it with the equator’s scale reads 8,161 km from Hanoi to Canberra, 5% too long, and 8,479 km from Hanoi to Ankara, 19% too long. That is enough to put the two the wrong way round: the ruler says Turkey is the farther, when from Hanoi it is Australia.
What is the quickest way to see a true distance?
Put yourself in the middle. On an azimuthal equidistant map centred on where you start, distance from the centre is true in every direction, so two places on the same ring are exactly the same distance away however far apart they look. That is the default view here. Centre it on Hanoi and Canberra and Ankara fall between the same two rings, on opposite sides of the map. The catch is that such a map is only true from its centre: the distance between two other points on it is not.
How is the flight time worked out?
It is an estimate and it is labelled as one: 0.6 hours for taxi, climb and descent, plus the distance divided by 830 km/h, for a nonstop along a straight line. Real routes bend around weather, airspace and wind, so treat it as a ballpark and not a timetable. Istanbul to Ho Chi Minh City comes out at 10 h 28 min, close to a scheduled nonstop; Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney comes out a little long.
Why is France only about 2,000 km from Brazil?
Because France includes French Guiana, which borders Brazil. Measured from Brasília to the closest part of France it is 2,066 km, against 8,725 km to Paris. Both are true; they answer different questions, which is the whole reason the page lets you choose.
How exact is the closest point?
To about 60 km. The outlines are Natural Earth’s 110-metre set, which is drawn coarsely, and closest point is measured from the place you start to the other country’s border. For Equatorial Guinea and Vanuatu the outline leaves out the island their capital stands on, so the page does not offer a closest point for them rather than show a number it knows is wrong. Distances throughout are great-circle on a sphere, within about half a percent of the true figure.
Every distance on this page
| From → to | Capitals | Biggest cities | Closest point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnam → Australia | 7,748 km · 9 h 56 min | 6,839 km · 8 h 50 min | 4,480 km · 6 h 00 min |
| Vietnam → Turkey | 7,106 km · 9 h 10 min | 8,194 km · 10 h 28 min | 6,091 km · 7 h 56 min |
| Brazil → France | 8,725 km · 11 h 07 min | 9,402 km · 11 h 56 min | 2,066 km · 3 h 05 min |
| Brazil → Argentina | 2,340 km · 3 h 25 min | 1,676 km · 2 h 37 min | 1,263 km · 2 h 07 min |
| From → to | Distance |
|---|---|
| Hanoi → Sydney | 7,769 km · 9 h 58 min |
| Hanoi → Istanbul | 7,413 km · 9 h 32 min |
| London → New York | 5,567 km · 7 h 18 min |
| London → Cairo | 3,511 km · 4 h 50 min |
How to use it
Guess how long the flight is, then lock it in. The map that follows draws two places at their true distances from where you start: each ring is the same distance away in every direction, so two places on one ring are equally far. Switch to the map you remember to see the same two distances on Mercator, with a ruler reading beside the truth. Pick any places from the lists, or try one of the starting points. For a country, choose whether you mean the capital, the biggest city or the closest point. Nothing to install, and it works offline.
Distances are great-circle on a sphere of radius 6,371 km, within about half a percent of the true figure. Country outlines and populated places are Natural Earth, in the public domain; capitals and biggest cities are derived from the places file, not typed. Flight time is an estimate of 0.6 hours plus distance divided by 830 km/h. This project's test suite checks the maths against published distances and against a brute-force reference on every build.