When planning a trip that involves significant driving, it is important to calculate how many miles are between your two destinations. Long trips will require planning, and knowledge of the mileage involved will help regarding decisions of when to stop and where to look for a hotel, if the trip is going to take more than one day to complete by car. There are several different accurate ways to compute miles between two points. Mileage between two destinations can be calculated both manually using a map and ruler, or can be quickly performed on the computer.
Locate your starting and ending destinations on the map.
Measure the distance along the highways and roads you will be taking between the two points with the ruler. Measurements should typically be made in inches.
Calculate the mileage using the map key. For example, if every inch equals 5 miles, and the two points are 12 inches apart, then your trip will be 60 miles.
Log on to Mapquest, Google maps, or a similar directions website. Enter the starting and ending address into the appropriate boxes, filling out the necessary ZIP codes and information.
Click "Get Directions." Detailed directions to your destination will come up, and the exact mileage will be displayed at the bottom.
