From distance to points

A 100 km miss does not have one universal score. GeoFootball measures how far your pin is from the recorded answer, applies that question's distance scale, rounds the base points, and then applies the question multiplier. This calculator uses the game's own scoring function rather than an approximate recreation.

1. The distance follows the Earth's surface

The pin and answer are latitude-longitude pairs. Their separation is a great-circle distance calculated on a sphere with radius 6,371 km. It is not the length of a line measured across the flat screen, a road trip, or a flight itinerary. Zooming the globe changes how much screen space a kilometre occupies, but does not change the score for two fixed coordinates.

This matters near the edge of a globe. A place can appear visually close to another while the curved surface between them is much longer than the screen suggests. Rotate the intended region toward the centre before choosing a precise pin. At large scales, first establish the right country and city; a high zoom level cannot rescue a fundamentally wrong location.

2. The first five kilometres earn full base points

A submitted pin within 5 km of the recorded answer earns 100 base points. Beyond that threshold the formula is round(100 × exp(-distance / scale)). The exponent is negative, so a larger miss reduces the score. Rounding means nearby distances can produce the same whole-number result. The perfect zone also means there is a deliberate boundary at 5 km rather than a completely smooth curve all the way to zero distance.

For example, at a scale of 220 km, a 100 km miss earns 63 base points. At 400 km it earns 78. Neither calculation is an error: a question with a larger scale penalizes distance less sharply. The table keeps the distance fixed while changing the scale, which separates that effect from differences in your pin.

3. A question's scale is not a search radius

The scale is a parameter in the exponential formula, not the boundary of the correct city or a circle inside which every answer scores fully. A scale of 220 km does not mean that every pin within 220 km gets 100 points. Only the five-kilometre perfect zone has that rule. Questions may use different scales, so compare like with like before concluding that two similar misses were scored inconsistently.

The calculator offers example scales used by the game, but it does not promise that every question uses one of those three values. An answer can also be a city reference rather than a surveyed stadium location. Its label and source establish the expected precision. A more specific venue point should not be invented when the source supports only a city-level question.

4. Round the base first, then multiply

A five-question Daily round uses multipliers 1, 1, 2, 3, 3. Each base score is rounded before multiplication. The maximum is 100 × (1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 3) = 1000 points. The multiplier makes a later accurate answer more valuable; it does not change the distance or the question's underlying scale. Selecting x3 in the calculator shows that final multiplication explicitly.

This is also why adding up displayed distances is not a way to reproduce the points total. Exponential scoring is nonlinear, questions can have different scales, and multipliers differ. Each answer must be scored separately. A very precise later answer can contribute more points than an equally precise early answer without any inconsistency.

What this calculator does not do

This is a learning tool. It does not submit guesses, award XP, update a streak, or change a leaderboard. A timed-out question is scored as a miss by the game; typing a distance here cannot recover it. Ranking and progress systems are separate from this explanation of one submitted pin's points.

For real geographical comparisons, look at the measured separation between Lisbon's two grounds and Brazil's 2014 venues. Then try Training and compare your result's distance with the formula. Report a discrepancy with the question, recorded distance and multiplier through feedback, rather than sending a score without its context.

Published by GeoFootball. Sources and calculations checked 11 November 2026. How we use sources · Report a correction.