Free tool · no sign-up · Swiss Ephemeris

Astrocartography calculator

Astrocartography draws your birth moment on a world map. At the instant you were born, every planet was on the Midheaven somewhere on Earth, on the IC somewhere else, and rising and setting along two curves. Enter your birth date, recorded birth time and birth city to see those lines, then pick two cities to see which lines run closest to each.

Example map. Invented example: 1 January 2000, 12:00 in London (12:00 UTC). Not a real person. Yours replaces it after you calculate.
Astrocartography map of an invented example birth moment12 planetary lines on a world map: Sun MC, Sun IC, Sun ASC, Sun DSC, Venus MC, Venus IC, Venus ASC, Venus DSC, Jupiter MC, Jupiter IC, Jupiter ASC, Jupiter DSC. The same positions are listed as text below the map.

Geometric horizon, no refraction; rising and setting curves stop where a planet is circumpolar or never rises. Land outline: Natural Earth (public domain), no borders. Lines are drawn to 85° latitude; the map shows 84°N to 60°S.

Saves the example map above, with the lines you’ve selected, as an SVG file made in your browser. It’s labelled as an example, not a real person.

Lines on the map

Each line is labelled on the map with its planet and angle; the dash pattern shows the angle and the colour the planet.

Line positions as text
  • Sun MC: longitude 0.8°E, at every latitude drawn.
  • Sun IC: longitude 179.2°W, at every latitude drawn.
  • Sun ASC: crosses the equator at 89.2°W; drawn from 67.0°S to 67.0°N.
  • Sun DSC: crosses the equator at 90.8°E; drawn from 67.0°S to 67.0°N.
  • Venus MC: longitude 40.6°W, at every latitude drawn.
  • Venus IC: longitude 139.4°E, at every latitude drawn.
  • Venus ASC: crosses the equator at 130.6°W; drawn from 71.6°S to 71.6°N.
  • Venus DSC: crosses the equator at 49.4°E; drawn from 71.6°S to 71.6°N.
  • Jupiter MC: longitude 103.4°E, at every latitude drawn.
  • Jupiter IC: longitude 76.6°W, at every latitude drawn.
  • Jupiter ASC: crosses the equator at 13.4°E; drawn from 81.4°S to 81.4°N.
  • Jupiter DSC: crosses the equator at 166.6°W; drawn from 81.4°S to 81.4°N.

Compare two cities

Pick any two cities to see which of the lines on the map run closest to each, measured on the example map. Choosing a city doesn’t recalculate anything, and it isn’t a ranking or a recommendation.

Draw your own map

Free, no sign-up. Your birth date, time and city coordinates are sent to Lunara’s server for this one calculation. They aren’t stored, put in the page address, kept in browser storage or sent to analytics. The map is drawn in your browser, and the two comparison cities are measured in your browser too, without recalculating anything. If you open your full chart and buy a reading, the details needed to write it are stored with your order.

You need a recorded birth time. The lines move about 1° of longitude for every 4 minutes, so this calculator never assumes noon. Don’t know your time? See a birth chart without a birth time.

The birth city sets the time zone, which turns your local birth time into UTC.

What the four lines mean

In astrological tradition, each line puts one planet on one of the chart’s four angles, and the angle sets the area of life it is read in. On an MC line the planet was at the top of the chart (the Midheaven), traditionally linked with career, reputation and public life. On an IC line it was at the bottom, linked with home, roots and private life. On an ASC line the planet was rising, linked with self-presentation, and on a DSC line it was setting, linked with partnerships.

So a Venus DSC line is read as Venus themes (affection, beauty, pleasure) coloured by relationships, and a Saturn MC line as Saturn themes (responsibility, effort) in public life. These are symbolic readings from a tradition, not measurements of what a place will do for you.

Why your birth time matters so much

The Earth turns about 1° every 4 minutes, so every 4 minutes of error in your birth time moves every line on the map by about 1° of longitude: around 111 km at the equator, less towards the poles. A time rounded to the nearest half hour can shift the lines by several hundred kilometres. Use the time from a birth certificate or hospital record if you can.

Without a birth time this map can’t be drawn honestly, so the calculator asks for one and never assumes noon. If you don’t know yours, your planets’ signs are still available from the free birth chart calculator; see a birth chart without a birth time.

How to read the map

Vertical lines are MC and IC lines: a planet is on the meridian at the same moment all along a line of longitude. The curved lines are rising and setting lines; they bend because the horizon tilts with latitude, and they end short of the poles where, at the plotted moment, the planet has no geometric horizon crossing. Where a rising and a setting curve meet, the planet only grazes the horizon.

At high latitudes, a planet on its MC line can still be below the horizon (and one on its IC line above it), because the meridian crossing and the horizon are different things. A line passing near a city is a symbol to reflect on, not a precise boundary; a few minutes of birth-time uncertainty moves it.

Read more: your Midheaven sign · a birth chart without a birth time.

Frequently asked questions

What is astrocartography?
Astrocartography maps a birth chart onto the globe. For your birth moment it shows where each planet was on the Midheaven, the IC, the Ascendant or the Descendant. Astrologers read places near a line as places where that planet’s themes are emphasised. It’s a symbolic practice, not a science of places.
Is this the same as a relocation chart?
No. A relocation chart recalculates houses for a new place. This map shows only the four angular lines; it doesn’t calculate relocated houses, parans or local space lines.
Do I need my birth time?
Yes. The lines depend on the exact minute, so the calculator only works with a recorded time and never fills in noon. Every 4 minutes of error moves the lines about 1° of longitude.
How accurate are the distances?
They’re approximations on a spherical Earth: the shortest distance from the city to points sampled at most 0.25° apart along each line. Treat them as rounded guides, and remember that birth-time uncertainty moves the lines far more than the rounding does.
Does it tell me the best place to live?
No. It shows where lines fall and what they traditionally symbolise. It doesn’t rank places, and it isn’t advice about moving, work, health, money or safety.
Is it free?
Yes, the map and the city comparison are free, with no sign-up. If you want a written interpretation of your birth chart, an optional paid natal reading is available after you calculate; it’s a birth chart reading, not a relocation report.

Method: Lunara’s central Swiss Ephemeris calculation. For the recorded birth instant (converted to UTC with your birth city’s time zone), each planet’s apparent geocentric right ascension and declination of date and the Greenwich apparent sidereal time come from Swiss Ephemeris. The MC line is where local sidereal time equals the planet’s right ascension, the IC line is the opposite meridian, and the rising (ASC) and setting (DSC) curves use the planet’s own declination with cos H = −tan(latitude) × tan(declination): the geometric horizon of a spherical Earth, with no atmospheric refraction. Rising and setting curves stop where the planet is circumpolar or never rises. Lines are drawn to 85° latitude. No parans, local space lines or relocated houses. Distances are approximate: the shortest great-circle distance (6,371 km Earth radius) to points spaced at most 0.25° apart along each line. The world outline is Natural Earth’s public-domain 1:110m land map, with no borders. Text written with AI assistance. Map design is original; land outline made with Natural Earth.