Qibla Direction in Columbus, Ohio

How to face the Qibla in Columbus

1. With your phone: tap Open the live Qibla compass, allow location (and, on iPhone, motion access), then turn slowly until the Kaaba on the dial reaches the mark at the top.
2. With a regular compass: hold it flat, turn it until the needle sits on N, then face 59.6° on the dial. That is the magnetic bearing; reading 52.3° off a magnetic compass would leave you about 7.2° off.
3. With the map: open the live compass, switch to Map and follow the gold line from your position to the Kaaba. It does not use the compass at all.

If a phone compass looks wrong, move the phone in a figure-eight a few times, away from laptops, speakers, car dashboards and magnetic cases, and hold it flat while you turn.

Why the Qibla from Columbus points northeast

From Columbus, in the middle of the continent, the Kaaba is 6,823 miles away, and on a Mercator map the straight line to it points 100°, east. Following the curve of the earth instead, the great circle leaves Columbus at 52.3°, heads up over the North Atlantic to about 53° N, and only then bends south toward Arabia. That great-circle bearing, northeast, is the one the finder gives.

Nearby cities

• Cincinnati, OH51.4° NE · 100 mi away
• Cleveland, OH53.1° NE · 126 mi away
• Windsor, ON52.0° NE · 163 mi away
• Dearborn, MI51.9° NE · 163 mi away
• Detroit, MI52.0° NE · 164 mi away

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