Point elevation

Point elevation is the vertical distance (height) of a single location on the Earth's surface based on a datumA datum is a mathematical model of the Earth's shape used to measure locations (horizontal datums) and elevations (vertical datums).Learn more such as mean sea level or ground level. To find the elevation of a point, you use the /elevation/at-point request for the Elevation serviceThe elevation service, also known as ArcGIS Elevation service, is a location service hosted by Esri that returns TopoBathy elevation values for a single location or multiple locations.Learn more. It is often used to build applications that allow users to interactively inspect elevation values of terrain and water bodies on a map.

You can use point elevation to:

• Get the elevation value of your geolocation.
• Determine the height of a specific location above mean sea level or ground level.
• Find the elevation of terrain and geographic features such as a mountaintop, tower, or landmark.
• Compare the relative elevation of different points to determine slope.
• Measure the depth of a water body at a specific location.

How to find the elevation of a point

The typical workflow to find the elevation of a point is to:

1. Define the latitude and longitude of a location.
2. Define the datumA datum is a mathematical model of the Earth's shape used to measure locations (horizontal datums) and elevations (vertical datums).Learn more, e.g. mean sea level or ellipsoid (ground level).
3. Access the elevation service using an access tokenAn access token is an authorization string that provides access to secure ArcGIS content, data, and services. Its capabilities are determined by the privileges it supports. It is obtained by implementing API key authentication, User authentication, or App authentication.Learn more with Elevation service privileges.

URL request

1
https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-point

Required parameters

Key parameters

Code examples

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      async function getElevationData(lon, lat) {
        const url =
          "https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-point";

        const response = await esriRequest(url, {
          query: {
            lon: lon,
            lat: lat,
          },
          responseType: "json",
        });

        const { x, y, z } = response.data.result.point;

        arcgisMap.popup = {
          visibleElements: {
            collapseButton: false,
            closeButton: false,
            actionBar: false,
          },
        };

        const title = `Elevation relative to mean sea level`;
        const content = `
            Latitude: ${y.toFixed(5)}<br>
            Longitude: ${x.toFixed(5)}<br>
            Elevation: ${z} m`;

        addPointToMap(lon, lat);

        arcgisMap.openPopup({
          location: [lon, lat],
          content: content,
          title: title,
        });
      }

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# You can also use wget
curl -X GET https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-point?lon=-179.99&lat=-85.05 \
  -d "f=json" \
  -d "token=<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"

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{
    "elevationInfo": {
      "relativeTo": "meanSeaLevel"
    },
    "result": {
      "point": {
        "spatialReference": {
          "wkid": 4326,
          "vcsWkid": 105700
        },
        "x": -117.194769,
        "y": 34.057289,
        "z": 395.8
      }
    }
  }

Tutorials

Find the elevation of a point

Find elevation value of a single location on land or water.

LeafletMapLibre GL JSOpenLayersCesiumJSREST JSREST API