Elevation Map

The elevation map shows the shape of the land around your location, or around any address or place that you search for. It combines shaded relief, contour lines, and 3D terrain. The box in the corner of the map shows the elevation at the orange pin, in feet or meters.

How to find the elevation of a point on the map

1. Allow location access to start at your current location, or type an address or place name in the search box.
2. Drag the orange pin to the point that you want to check.
3. Read the elevation in the box at the bottom of the map.

To zoom in or out, use the + and − buttons, scroll, or pinch. The page address changes to include the position of the pin, so you can bookmark the page or share the link.

How to read the elevation map

Shaded relief

The map shades hills and mountains as if a light shines from the northwest. Slopes that face southeast are in shadow. The shadows make ridges, valleys, and cliffs easy to see.

Contour lines

A contour line connects points that have the same elevation. When you follow one line, you stay at the same height.

• Spacing: Lines that are close together show steep ground. Lines that are far apart show a gentle slope or flat land.
• Labels: The thicker lines are index contours. Each index contour has a label that shows its elevation in feet or meters, as set by the unit toggle.
• Contour interval: The difference in elevation between two lines changes with the zoom level. When you zoom out, the lines are 500 feet (200 meters) apart. When you zoom in fully, they are 20 feet (10 meters) apart.
• Hills and valleys: A set of closed loops, one inside the next, usually shows a hill or a peak. Where contour lines cross a stream or a valley, they bend into a V shape that points uphill.

3D terrain

The map tilts to show the land in 3D. To change the angle on a computer, drag with the right mouse button, or hold Ctrl and drag. On a phone, drag up or down with two fingers. The map shows the terrain at half of its true height, so labels and roads stay easy to read.

Elevation maps, topographic maps, and relief maps

An elevation map shows the height of the land above sea level. A topographic map (or topo map) shows the same information with contour lines, and it usually also shows roads, rivers, and place names. A relief map uses shadows or colors to show the shape of the land. This map is all three: it has contour lines, shaded relief, and the exact elevation of any point.

What elevation maps are used for

• Hiking and cycling: See how much a route climbs and where the steep sections are. To find summits near you, use the peaks map.
• Flood awareness: Water flows downhill and collects in low areas. The map shows which parts of a neighborhood are lower than the land around them.
• Building and landscaping: See the slope of a property and the direction that water drains before you plan a project. For construction, get a professional survey.
• Learning and exploring: Follow river valleys, mountain ranges, and coastlines anywhere in the world.

This map does not show flood zones. For official flood zones in the United States, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. To see how sea level rise can affect the U.S. coast, use the NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer.

Where the map data comes from

The elevations and terrain come from Mapterhorn. Mapterhorn combines public elevation data from national mapping agencies and the Copernicus program. Where possible, it uses detailed lidar data. In other areas, it uses satellite data. The section above gives the dataset for the point that you selected.

The streets, labels, and other map features come from OpenStreetMap through OpenFreeMap.

To learn how accurate these elevations are, and why your phone can show a different value, see How accurate is my elevation?