Convert length and distance units — meters, feet, inches, kilometers, miles, light years and more.
| Unit | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 0.0201168 m | |
| 0.01 chain | 0.201168 m | |
| 0.1 chain | 2.01168 m | |
| 1 chain | 20.1168 m | |
| 5 chain | 100.584 m | |
| 10 chain | 201.168 m | |
| 50 chain | 1005.84 m | |
| 100 chain | 2011.68 m | |
| 1000 chain | 20116.8 m |
Multiply the number of Chains by 20.1168 to get Meters. Formula: m = chain × 20.1168. Example: 10 chain × 20.1168 = 201.168 m. To reverse, divide Meters by 20.1168 to get Chains.
| Chain (chain) | Meter (m) |
|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 0.0201168 m |
| 0.01 chain | 0.201168 m |
| 0.1 chain | 2.01168 m |
| 0.5 chain | 10.0584 m |
| 1 chain | 20.1168 m |
| 2 chain | 40.2336 m |
| 5 chain | 100.584 m |
| 10 chain | 201.168 m |
| 20 chain | 402.336 m |
| 50 chain | 1005.84 m |
| 100 chain | 2011.68 m |
| 250 chain | 5029.2 m |
| 500 chain | 10058.4 m |
| 1000 chain | 20116.8 m |
| 10000 chain | 201168 m |
To convert Chain to Meter, multiply by 20.1168. Example: 10 chain = 201.168 m
To convert Meter back to Chain, divide by 20.1168 (multiply by 0.0497097). Use the swap button above.
Start with 100 Chains = 2011.68 m as your reference point. Scale up or down from there.
The United Kingdom officially adopted metric in the 1970s, but land records still contain chain measurements. Surveyors, solicitors, and land registries convert chains to meters daily when processing property transactions.
Australia completed metrication in the 1970s but retains millions of historical land records in chains. State land registries and surveying firms convert chain-based boundaries to meters for modern title management systems.
Engineers setting out construction projects on sites with chain-based title deeds convert boundary measurements to meters for site layout, machine control systems, and coordination with metric engineering drawings.
Parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh retain chain-based land records from British administration. Revenue departments convert chain measurements to meters when digitising land records under national land reform programmes.
Planning applications for development require site dimensions in meters in most countries. When title deeds describe boundaries in chains, architects and surveyors must convert to meters for planning authority submissions.
Geography and mathematics teachers use chain-to-meter conversion to connect historical land measurement (chains are mentioned in old maps and deeds students may encounter) with the modern metric system they use daily.
The Chain is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: chain). 1 chain = 20.1168 m. Used in scientific and practical Length measurement applications.
The Meter is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: m). It is part of an internationally recognised measurement system used alongside the Chain.
Edmund Gunter invented the surveyor's chain in 1620. His design — 100 links totalling exactly 66 feet — was brilliantly chosen: 10 chains × 10 chains = 1 acre, making area calculation trivially simple in the field. 80 chains = 1 mile, 10 chains = 1 furlong. The chain became standard across the British Empire and is written into American law — the US Public Land Survey System still divides land using chains and links.
The metre was born from the French Revolution's desire to replace chaotic pre-metric measurement with a rational universal standard. In 1791 the French Academy of Sciences defined it as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along the Paris meridian. Early prototypes were made in platinum; a more precise platinum-iridium bar was created in 1889. In 1983, the metre was redefined using the speed of light — exactly the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second. Today it is the world's most widely used unit of length.
Common use: Chain to Meter conversion is needed when working with international standards, scientific publications, or reference materials that use different unit systems for Length measurement.