Original MapBench study · 2026-10-13
Which Major Cities Have Another Major City Closest to Their Antipode?
For every city we calculate the exact opposite point on Earth, then find the nearest city in the MapBench major-city dataset.
What the ranking shows
Every point on Earth has an antipode: the point exactly opposite it through the planet. We calculate each city's antipode, then find the nearest city in the dataset to that opposite point.
Auckland has the closest dataset match to its antipode in this comparison: Seville is about 89 km from the exact opposite point.
| Rank | Origin city | Country | Nearest city to antipode | Miss distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland | New Zealand | Seville, Spain | 89 km |
| 2 | Seville | Spain | Auckland, New Zealand | 89 km |
| 3 | Taipei | Taiwan | Asunción, Paraguay | 90 km |
| 4 | Asunción | Paraguay | Taipei, Taiwan | 90 km |
| 5 | Santiago | Chile | Xi'an, China | 106 km |
| 6 | Xi'an | China | Santiago, Chile | 106 km |
| 7 | Madrid | Spain | Wellington, New Zealand | 160 km |
| 8 | Wellington | New Zealand | Madrid, Spain | 160 km |
| 9 | Córdoba | Argentina | Wuhan, China | 170 km |
| 10 | Wuhan | China | Córdoba, Argentina | 170 km |
| 11 | Bogotá | Colombia | Jakarta, Indonesia | 195 km |
| 12 | Jakarta | Indonesia | Bogotá, Colombia | 195 km |
| 13 | Lima | Peru | Phnom Penh, Cambodia | 221 km |
| 14 | Phnom Penh | Cambodia | Lima, Peru | 221 km |
| 15 | Medellín | Colombia | Jakarta, Indonesia | 268 km |
| 16 | Rosario | Argentina | Shanghai, China | 276 km |
| 17 | Shanghai | China | Rosario, Argentina | 276 km |
| 18 | Porto | Portugal | Wellington, New Zealand | 285 km |
| 19 | Singapore | Singapore | Quito, Ecuador | 286 km |
| 20 | Quito | Ecuador | Singapore, Singapore | 286 km |
Method
The antipode formula flips latitude and shifts longitude by 180°, normalized back into the −180° to 180° range. We then measure great-circle distance from that antipode to every other city in the dataset and keep the nearest match.
A small miss distance does not mean the two original cities are exactly opposite each other; it means the second city lies close to the first city's exact antipodal point.
Important caveat
This is a ranking inside MapBench's curated major-city dataset, not a complete census of every settlement on Earth. A city can rank as isolated here even when smaller cities and towns exist nearby. Population values are approximate and are not used to determine isolation or antipode distance.
The study is useful for comparing the dataset consistently and demonstrating geographic methods. It should not be cited as an official global urban ranking without this scope note.
Reproduce the measurements
Use the same underlying tools to check individual pairs and explore your own examples.