What Is an Elevation Profile, and How Does This Map Elevation Tool Work?
An elevation profile answers a simple but often hard-to-visualize question: how does the ground rise and fall between two or more places? This map elevation tool lets you click up to five points anywhere on Earth, and instantly builds a map elevation profile plotting the altitude of each point against the cumulative distance between them.
Unlike a single-point altitude finder map, which only ever answers what is my elevation right here, this altitude locator is built for comparison: click a trailhead and a summit, a property's front and back corners, or five waypoints along a proposed road, and see the whole rise and fall in one chart. Search any address, postcode, or coordinate pair to jump to a location, or use the current-location button to drop your own elevation onto the map as one of the points.
Every elevation value comes from a real 30-metre resolution satellite dataset, not an estimate, and the whole tool runs in your browser: click, search, or use your current location, and the map showing elevations updates immediately, with no installation and no account required.
How to Build an Elevation Profile: Step by Step
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why does a point sometimes show no elevation data?
- ASTER GDEM covers land surfaces only. A point clicked over open ocean, or occasionally right at a dataset boundary, returns no value, since there's no land elevation to report there.
- What data source powers this map elevation calculator?
- ASTER GDEM v3, a 30-metre resolution satellite elevation model produced by NASA and Japan's METI, queried live through the opentopodata.org API for every point you click.
- Why is there a limit of 5 elevation points on map?
- Five points keep the chart readable and the free public elevation API within a fair, shared usage budget for every visitor. If you need a continuous terrain profile between just two points instead, the Line of Sight Calculator on this site samples 100 points along a single line.
- Does the elevation chart follow the real ground between my points?
- No, and it's worth being clear about this: the chart connects each clicked point's elevation with a straight line, it does not sample terrain in between. For actual point-to-point ground profiling, a denser line-of-sight-style sample is needed, which is a different tool on this site.
- What is an elevation profile tool?
- An elevation profile tool lets you click several points on a map and see a chart of how altitude changes between them, distance on one axis and elevation on the other, instead of only checking one point at a time.
- Can I search an address instead of clicking blindly on the map?
- Yes. Type any address, postcode, city name, or decimal coordinate pair into the search bar. The map centers on that location and adds it as one of your elevation points automatically.
- How can I find my elevation right now?
- Click the crosshair button next to the search bar. Your browser will ask for location permission, then your current position is added to the map as a point and its elevation is looked up immediately, answering what is my elevation in one click.
- Is this altitude finder free, and is my data stored anywhere?
- Yes, completely free with no sign-up. Points and elevations exist only in your browser session; nothing is saved on a server, and closing or reloading the page clears them.
- How do I measure elevation for multiple points at once?
- Click each location on the map, up to five points on map at a time. Each gets its own elevation label within a second or two, and the chart below updates automatically as each new elevation arrives.
Six Real-World Uses for an Elevation Profile
Hiking and Trail Planning
Click a trailhead, a few waypoints, and a summit to see the elevation profile of a hike before setting out, so you know exactly where the climbing is concentrated instead of guessing from a flat map.
Cycling Route Elevation Charts
Cyclists comparing two possible routes can drop points along each and compare the resulting elevation charts side by side, spotting which route has a gentler climb before committing to either.
Site Grading and Construction Planning
Click the corners of a building site to measure elevation at each corner and see the overall slope, a fast first check before commissioning a full topographic survey.
Drone Flight and Line-of-Sight Pre-Checks
Drone pilots can click waypoints along a planned flight path to see how the ground elevation changes, helping to spot terrain that could affect altitude-above-ground-level calculations.
Real Estate and Land Assessment
Before buying a rural or sloped lot, click a few points across the property to check its elevation profile and get a quick sense of drainage direction and buildable flat areas.
Geography Education and Fieldwork
Students and teachers can click points along a river valley, a mountain range, or a coastline to build a real elevation profile from actual satellite data, turning an abstract textbook concept into a hands-on map exercise.
Understanding Elevation Profile Units and Terms
| Unit / Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Metre (m) | SI unit of length. 1 m = 3.28084 ft. The primary unit for elevation in all metric countries. |
| Foot (ft) | Imperial unit of length. 1 ft = 0.3048 m. Common in the USA and UK for aviation and some surveying. |
| Elevation Profile | A chart plotting altitude on the vertical axis against distance travelled on the horizontal axis. |
| Ascent / Descent | Total metres climbed and total metres descended when moving through the clicked points in order. |
| AMSL | Above Mean Sea Level, elevation relative to the average ocean surface, the standard global reference. |
| ASTER GDEM | Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global DEM, a 30m resolution satellite dataset. |
| Resolution | Horizontal cell size of the elevation grid. ASTER v3 = 30m; coarser resolution means less precise point values. |
| RMSE | Root Mean Square Error, a statistical measure of vertical accuracy. ASTER v3 global RMSE is about ±17m. |
The Elevation Data Behind Every Point
This tool uses the same ASTER GDEM v3 (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model, version 3) dataset that powers professional elevation lookups, a satellite-derived model produced jointly by NASA and Japan's METI, covering virtually all land on Earth between 83°N and 83°S at a 30-metre horizontal resolution.
Each of your up to five points queries this dataset independently, in metres above the WGS84 EGM96 geoid, the same reference surface GPS receivers use. Vertical accuracy is approximately ±17 metres RMSE globally, better on flat terrain and somewhat coarser on steep slopes.
One honest limitation worth stating plainly: the elevation profile chart connects the elevation of each clicked point with a straight line, it does not sample the terrain in between. For a true point-to-point terrain profile along a specific path, useful for line-of-sight or signal-propagation checks, this site's dedicated Line of Sight Calculator samples 100 points along a single line instead of just the two endpoints.
Open Source & Credits
- Map library: Leaflet , open-source interactive maps
- Geocoding: Nominatim / OpenStreetMap , address and postcode search
- Map tiles: CARTO , street basemap
- Satellite: Esri ArcGIS Online , satellite and terrain basemaps
- Elevation data: opentopodata.org , ASTER GDEM v3 elevation API
- Dataset: NASA / METI ASTER GDEM v3 , 30m global elevation model
