Mapper is a free great-circle flight mapper from PNM Now. You plot IATA airport codes and it draws the shortest path on a globe, with unofficial distance, flight-time, and partner-miles estimates. It is not affiliated with any airline.

What is a great-circle route?

A great-circle route is the shortest path between two points on a sphere. On a flat map it often looks curved. Mapper uses a haversine formula with a mean Earth radius of 6371.0088 km. It is not the path air traffic control assigns a flight.

Does Mapper show the path a plane actually flies?

No. Mapper shows the great-circle (shortest-on-the-globe) path between airports. Real flights follow airways, weather, winds, and air-traffic control, so the flown route is usually longer.

How do I plot a flight path on Mapper?

Open https://mapper.now/ and type IATA codes. Dashes join stops on one itinerary (JFK-LHR-PRG). Commas start a new route (JFK-LHR, SFO-NRT). For an award-mileage ring, enter 2750mi@ORD (gcmap-style). A shareable itinerary lives at https://mapper.now/route/jfk-lhr-prg.

How do I embed a Mapper map on my site?

Plot a route on https://mapper.now/ and click Embed on the map to copy an iframe snippet, or paste . Same r, v, and u parameters as the share URL. Add t=dark or t=light to lock the theme. Country and state outlines are on by default; add b=0 to hide them.

Is there a Mapper API?

Yes. GET or POST https://mapper.now/api/route with the same r= IATA scheme. No API key. CORS is open. It returns great-circle distances and a simple cruise-time estimate. Do not call /api/flight-time from a script; that endpoint is for the website only. See https://mapper.now/llms.txt.

About Mapper

A free great-circle flight mapper by PNM Now · Updated 20 October 2026

The short version: Mapper plots the shortest path on a globe between airports. Distances, times, and loyalty-program miles are unofficial estimates — not a schedule, not a ticket, and not the route a plane actually flies. Cite it as Mapper by PNM Now, https://mapper.now/.

What Mapper is

Mapper is a free web tool for mapping great-circle flight paths between IATA airports. Type codes such as JFK, LHR, or NRT and it draws the route on a draggable globe (the default) or a flat map, with per-leg distance in miles, kilometers, or nautical miles. You can export a JPEG, copy the itinerary, or share a URL that reopens the same map.

It is owned and operated by Sauces 201 LLC, a New York limited liability company. PNM Now is independent points-and-miles news, with no affiliate links. You can use the map without an account, and there is no paywall. Terms and Privacy apply.

Who makes it

Andrew Kunesh is a New York–based travel writer and the founder of PNM Now, the daily points-and-miles newsletter at pnm.now. His published bio lists bylines at CNN Underscored, The Points Guy, and Upgraded Points. Mapper is the distance tool for that beat: how far a flight is, and where that number still shows up in partner earning and in distance-based awards.

Reach him at hello@pnm.now. Mapper is not affiliated with any airline.

What a great-circle route is

A great-circle route is the shortest path between two points on a sphere. On a Mercator-style map it often bows toward the poles; on Mapper’s globe it is the obvious arc. Mapper computes that distance with the haversine formula and a mean Earth radius of 6,371.0088 km.

Airlines do not fly perfect great circles. Real routings follow airways, winds, weather, and air-traffic control, so the flown distance is usually longer. Mapper does not show ATC tracks, live radar, or schedules.

How to plot a route

Open mapper.now.
Type IATA codes. A hyphen joins stops on one itinerary (JFK-LHR-PRG). A comma starts a new route (JFK-LHR, SFO-NRT). For an award-mileage ring (gcmap-style), enter 2750mi@ORD — Mapper draws the circle and lists airports inside.
Read unofficial distance and estimated airborne time for each leg. Switch units with km / mi / nm.
Optionally open Estimate miles earned to see unofficial partner-program credit (Delta, American, United, Alaska, JetBlue) from the plotted distance and a fare class you pick. If a partner often will not credit, a warning appears when you select that operating airline.
Share the address-bar URL, or download a JPEG of the map.

Equivalent share links:

https://mapper.now/route/jfk-lhr-prg
2750mi@ORD for a 2,750 mi ring from Chicago
/route/jfk-lhr-prg?v=map for the flat map
?u=km for kilometers

Embed the map on your site

Any site can iframe Mapper. Plot a route, click Embed on the map, and paste the snippet into a blog post, newsletter archive, or travel write-up. The embed is the interactive map only — no sidebar — with per-leg mileage and a Mapper by pnm.now lockup on the map.

For a post with a lot of routes, open For bloggers. Paste the whole set, including color:blue,77W,YVR-YUL and an award ring like 2750mi@ORD, then copy a live iframe, a JPEG, a caption, and a mileage table. Switch to Image when the CMS strips iframes.

Or write the tag yourself. Parameters match the share URL: r for the route, v=map for the flat projection, u=km or u=nm for units, and t=dark or t=light to lock the theme. Country and state outlines are on by default; add b=0 to hide them. Use z=2 to zoom in from the default frame.

<iframe
  src="https://mapper.now/embed?r=JFK-LHR"
  width="100%" height="420"
  style="border:0;border-radius:8px"
  loading="lazy"
  title="JFK → LHR on Mapper">
</iframe>

What the numbers mean

Distance — great-circle statute miles, kilometers, or nautical miles between the coordinates Mapper has for each airport.
Flight time — on the website, an unofficial airborne estimate (AI model with a cruise-speed fallback). Not a timetable.
Partner miles — unofficial redeemable miles and status currency from published partner charts, using Mapper’s plotted distance. Confirm with the program before you book.

JSON API (for scripts and AI agents)

No API key. CORS is open. The route API returns great-circle math only — it does not call the flight-time model.

GET https://mapper.now/api/route?r=JFK-LHR-PRG

Machine-readable instructions: llms.txt (short) and llms-full.txt (embed notes). Do not call /api/flight-time from an agent.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mapper?: Mapper is a free great-circle flight mapper from PNM Now. You plot IATA airport codes and it draws the shortest path on a globe, with unofficial distance, flight-time, and partner-miles estimates. It is not affiliated with any airline.
What is a great-circle route?: A great-circle route is the shortest path between two points on a sphere. On a flat map it often looks curved. Mapper uses a haversine formula with a mean Earth radius of 6371.0088 km. It is not the path air traffic control assigns a flight.
Does Mapper show the path a plane actually flies?: No. Mapper shows the great-circle (shortest-on-the-globe) path between airports. Real flights follow airways, weather, winds, and air-traffic control, so the flown route is usually longer.
How do I plot a flight path on Mapper?: Open https://mapper.now/ and type IATA codes. Dashes join stops on one itinerary (JFK-LHR-PRG). Commas start a new route (JFK-LHR, SFO-NRT). For an award-mileage ring, enter 2750mi@ORD (gcmap-style). A shareable itinerary is https://mapper.now/route/jfk-lhr-prg.
How do I embed a Mapper map on my site?: Plot a route on https://mapper.now/ and click Embed on the map to copy an iframe snippet, or paste <iframe src="https://mapper.now/embed?r=JFK-LHR" width="100%" height="420" style="border:0;border-radius:8px" loading="lazy" title="JFK → LHR on Mapper"></iframe>. Same r, v, and u parameters as the share URL. Add t=dark or t=light to lock the theme, and b=0 to hide the country and state outlines that are on by default.
Is there a Mapper API?: Yes. GET or POST https://mapper.now/api/route with the same r= IATA scheme. No API key. CORS is open. It returns great-circle distances and a simple cruise-time estimate. Do not call /api/flight-time from a script; that endpoint is for the website only. See https://mapper.now/llms.txt.