diff --git a/lib/geocoder/orms/base.rb b/lib/geocoder/orms/base.rb
index e72a9687d4e193dca88584b87c28109ea2ca9ba3..473955c6da2218b3a4ff3e29d644984c3e246521 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder/orms/base.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder/orms/base.rb
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ module Geocoder
         Geocoder::Calculations.distance_between(mylat, mylon, lat, lon, :units => units)
       end
 
+      alias_method :distance_from, :distance_to
+
       ##
       # Get other geocoded objects within a given radius.
       #
diff --git a/test/geocoder_test.rb b/test/geocoder_test.rb
index 34fa5c4cbab2847cb109a11169139df26760e164..9e92d068ba6eb1451819aee0a95504a4555fd0ce 100644
--- a/test/geocoder_test.rb
+++ b/test/geocoder_test.rb
@@ -57,6 +57,15 @@ class GeocoderTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "US", e.country
   end
 
+  def test_distance_to_returns_float
+    v = Venue.new(*venue_params(:msg))
+    v.latitude = 40.750354
+    v.longitude = -73.993371
+    assert (d = v.distance_to(30, -94)).is_a?(Float)
+    # make sure distance_from is an alias
+    assert_equal d, v.distance_from(30, -94)
+  end
+
 
   # --- Google ---