Open-Elevation

Elevation lookup

Send latitude and longitude in decimal degrees. Elevations are returned in metres, in the same order as your locations. You can also provide a dataset parameter to select higher resolution datasets.

GET

Separate latitude and longitude with a comma, and locations with |.

curl 'https://api.open-elevation.com/api/v1/lookup?locations=41.16,-8.63&dataset=srtm-250m'

POST

For a batch, send a JSON object with a locations array. Put the optional dataset selector in the JSON body, not the query string.

curl 'https://api.open-elevation.com/api/v1/lookup' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --data '{"locations":[{"latitude":41.16,"longitude":-8.63}],"dataset":"srtm-250m"}'

Response

When you supply a dataset selector, each result identifies the dataset used. For example, the explicit 250 m lookup above can return:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "latitude": 41.16,
      "longitude": -8.63,
      "elevation": 86.457779,
      "dataset": "srtm-250m"
    }
  ]
}

With a selector, a location without elevation data has dataset: null and elevation: 0. A genuine zero elevation has a non-null dataset identifier.

Use dataset=auto to get automatic selection with dataset identifiers.

API keys and usage

Try the API without a key, or create a free account for more requests. Paid plans add higher throughput and 90 m data. Find your key in the dashboard and send it in the X-API-Key request header.

Datasets

We currently have the following datasets available. For even higher resolution options, contact us.

Data: NASA/USGS SRTM 1 Arc-Second Global V3, resampled by Open-Elevation.

Automatic selection

Omit dataset or use auto to automatically get the finest available dataset for your plan.