How to build an app to find elevation

1. Select an operation
Find elevation data of a single point or multiple points.
2. Define input parameters
Provide one or more points and the preferred datum to use.
3. Make a request
Use the Elevation service to get the elevation value(s) of the defined location.

1. Select an operation

The first step is to determine which request to use from the elevation service. The service supports two requests: /at-point to find the elevation of a single point or /at-many-points to find the elevation of multiple points.

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

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POST https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-many-points

2. Define input parameters

The next step is to provide input parameters for the operation. For the multiple points operation, you are required to provide a request body. Both single point and multiple points operations require latitude and longitude coordinates of the location(s) of interest. You can also specify the datum for the elevation values, such as above mean sea level or ground level. The most common parameters are listed in the table below.

The following parameters are used to get an elevation value of a single coordinate:

Name	Description	Examples
`lon`	The longitude of the specified point.	`lon=-157.7079`
`lat`	The latitude of the specified point.	`lat=21.4040`
`relativeTo`	The datum from which to measure elevation. The supported datums are above mean sea level or above ground level.	`relativeTo=meanSeaLevel` (default value), `relativeTo=ellipsoid`

For the multiple points operation, you are required to provide a request body. The POST body content type must be either:

a JSON with a content-type of application/json, or
form URL-encoded key-value pairs with a content-type of application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

The following parameters are used to get elevations of multiple points:

Name	Description	Examples
`coordinates`	An array of (`longitude`, `latitude`) pairs in the WGS84 spatial reference with a maximum size of 100 coordinates.	`[[31.134167, 29.979167], [31.130833, 29.976111], [31.128333, 29.9725]]`
`relativeTo`	The datum from which to measure elevation. The supported datums are above mean sea level or above ground level.	`relativeTo=meanSeaLevel` (default value), `relativeTo=ellipsoid`

3. Make a request

The final step is to make a request to the elevation service using an ArcGIS Maps SDK, scripting API, or open source library. In general, you:

Reference the service endpoint.
Set the coordinates.
Set your access token.

APIs

ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript

Esri Leaflet

MapLibre GL JS

OpenLayers

CesiumJS

REST JS

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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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REST API

cURL

HTTP

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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>"

Run in Postman

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{
    "elevationInfo": {
      "relativeTo": "meanSeaLevel"
    },
    "result": {
      "point": {
        "spatialReference": {
          "wkid": 4326
        },
        "x": -117.194769,
        "y": 34.057289,
        "z": 396
      }
    }
  }

APIs

ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript

Esri Leaflet

MapLibre GL JS

OpenLayers

CesiumJS

REST JS

Expand
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      async function getElevationData() {
        const url = "https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-many-points";

        const data = await arcgisRest.request(url, {
          method: "POST",
          params: {
            coordinates: JSON.stringify(points),
          },
          authentication: arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(esriConfig.apiKey),
        });

        const elevationValues = data.result.points.map((point) => point.z);

        points.forEach(([longitude, latitude], index) => {
          const elevation = elevationValues[index];

          const point = {
            type: "point",
            longitude: longitude,
            latitude: latitude,
          };

          const simpleMarkerSymbol = {
            type: "simple-marker",
            color: "black",
            size: "10px",
            outline: {
              color: "white",
              width: 1,
            },
          };

          const popupTemplate = {
            title: "Elevation data relative to mean sea level",
            content: `Latitude: ${latitude}<br>Longitude: ${longitude}<br>Elevation: ${elevation} meters`,
          };

          const polylineGraphic = new Graphic({
            geometry: {
              type: "polyline",
              paths: points
            },
            symbol: {
              type: "simple-line",
              width: 1,
            },
          });

          graphicsLayer.add(polylineGraphic);

          const pointGraphic = new Graphic({
            geometry: point,
            symbol: simpleMarkerSymbol,
            popupTemplate: popupTemplate,
          });

          graphicsLayer.add(pointGraphic);
        });
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REST API

cURL

HTTP

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# You can also use wget
curl -X POST https://elevation-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/elevation-service/v1/elevation/at-many-points \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

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{
    "elevationInfo": {
      "relativeTo": "meanSeaLevel"
    },
    "result": {
      "points": [
        {
          "spatialReference": {
            "wkid": 4326
          },
          "x": 31.134167,
          "y": 29.979167,
          "z": 82
        },
        {
          "spatialReference": {
            "wkid": 4326
          },
          "x": 31.130833,
          "y": 29.976111,
          "z": 90
        },
        {
          "spatialReference": {
            "wkid": 4326
          },
          "x": 31.128333,
          "y": 29.9725,
          "z": 74
        }
      ]
    }
  }

Additional resources

Tutorials

Find the elevation of a point

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

Esri Leaflet MapLibre GL JS OpenLayers CesiumJS ArcGIS REST JS

Find the elevations of multiple points

Find elevation values of multiple locations on land or water.

Esri Leaflet MapLibre GL JS OpenLayers CesiumJS ArcGIS REST JS