Question 1

How is the distance from home to school measured?

Accepted Answer

It is the straight-line distance, also called air distance or as-the-crow-flies distance, calculated with the haversine formula between your pinned home and the school's coordinates. It is not road distance, so actual travel will be a little longer.

Question 2

Why does straight-line distance matter for Grade 1 school admission in Sri Lanka?

Accepted Answer

Sri Lankan Grade 1 admission awards marks for proximity based on the straight-line distance between the child's residence and the school, which is why this tool measures and maps that distance and shows which schools are closer than the one you selected.

Question 3

How many schools does it cover?

Accepted Answer

9,400 schools. 8,796 come from the Ministry of Education school census with district, zone, medium, gender and national or provincial type. A further 604 come from OpenStreetMap and cover Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and Kilinochchi, which the census export left out.

Question 4

Is it free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It is free for everyone and must not be sold or placed behind a payment.

Question 5

Which languages does it support?

Accepted Answer

Sinhala, Tamil and English. Sinhala is the default and the language can be changed at any time from the top bar.