mapbench

Map Tunnel

Two synchronized globes show your starting point and its antipode — the exact spot on the other side of the planet where a straight tunnel would emerge.

FreeWorldwide
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Quick answer: Dig straight through the Earth — see where you come out. Coverage: Worldwide. No account is required.

Worked examples

  • Eye height near sea level — With eyes about 1.7 m above sea level, the refracted-horizon estimate is roughly 5 km.
  • 100 m viewpoint — At 100 m elevation above a clear horizon, the estimate increases to roughly 39 km.
  • Antipode example — New York's antipodal coordinate is approximately -40.71, 105.99.

Limits & appropriate use

Terrain intelligence carries one dominant limit: the model sees bare earth at ~90 m spacing with metres of vertical error, and is blind to canopies, walls and wires. Every downstream answer inherits it — profiles show terrain truth with noisy amplitude, line-of-sight verdicts are pending trees, horizons assume open ground, and solar radiation averages assume an unshaded panel. The second limit is temporal: climate letters and hardiness zones are thirty-year character, not this year's behaviour, and seismicity is a mood, not a hazard model. Each result here is printed with its recipe precisely so these boundaries travel with the number.

The value proposition is screening-grade truth at zero cost: orientation for sites, gardens, antennas, shoots and curiosity, with the upgrade points clearly marked. When money or safety attaches to the answer — tower siting, flood insurance, structural shading, avalanche terrain — the escalation is professional: licensed survey, certified shade studies, regulatory flood determinations and geological hazard services. A good free tool makes that ladder visible instead of pretending to be the top of it.

  • Construction and tower siting → licensed topographic survey.
  • Flood decisions → regulatory determinations (FEMA/FIRM in the US).
  • Solar finance → certified shade and production studies.

Data & methodology

Elevation and radiation use Open-Meteo's open API on Copernicus/ERA5 datasets; visibility math adds standard refraction (k = 0.13). US hydrology/flood layers come from USGS and FEMA public services.

For source details, licences and model limitations, see Data Sources and Methodology.

Related tools

Category: Earth Science. Results are intended for everyday analysis and planning unless a page explicitly states otherwise.

How to use

  1. 1Search a city or click the left globe.
  2. 2Watch the right globe jump to the antipode.
  3. 3Zoom either globe — the other follows.

Frequently asked questions

How is the other side computed?

Latitude flips sign and longitude shifts by 180° — the antipode is always exactly half the planet (about 12,742 km) away.

Why does it usually show ocean?

About 85% of land antipodes fall in the ocean, because oceans cover 71% of Earth's surface.

Is this the same as an antipode finder?

It uses the same math, but shows both sides on twin synchronized globes instead of a single map.

What place name is shown?

A reverse lookup of the antipode coordinates — the nearest named place, or 'open ocean' when there is none nearby.