Pass the place. A postal code, a city name, or /point all return elevation and elevation_ft on the same response.

Meters, feet, and the grid spacing at that point.

Both. elevation is meters. elevation_ft is feet.

Nearest 30m sample. Ocean comes back negative, below sea level.

Yes. /point and /postal send the same meters, feet, and resolution when you already have a place.

GET /elevation?lat={lat}&lon={lon}

Elevation API

Pass lat and lon. Get elevation in feet and meters.

elevation

Elevation in meters (null if unavailable)

elevation_ft

Elevation in feet (null if unavailable)

resolution

Approx grid spacing in meters

Pass a point

Any coordinate. Nearest 30m grid sample.

Land or ocean

Ocean comes back negative, below sea level.

No coordinates? Pass the place.

A ZIP, a city name, or a point. /postal, /city, and /point carry the same elevation.

Pole to pole.

Feet and meters. Every plan.

30m
land grid: Ocean
same field: ft + m
every response

Get the elevation at any latitude/longitude, from the nearest grid sample, in feet and meters. Over the ocean it returns as a negative number below sea level. Pole to pole. 30m land grid, ocean depth on the same field.

No coordinates? Pass the place instead. /postal, /city, and /point carry the same elevation and elevation_ft, so a ZIP or a city name answers in one call.

RESPONSE

$ curl "https://api.parseapi.com/elevation?lat=27.9881&lon=86.925" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

// 200 · ~35ms US · ~97ms worldwide
{
  "latitude": 27.9881,
  "longitude": 86.925,
  "elevation": 8729,
  "elevation_ft": 28638,
  "resolution": 30
}

Response fields

latitude: Input latitude
longitude: Input longitude
elevation: Elevation in meters (null if unavailable)
elevation_ft: Elevation in feet (null if unavailable)
resolution: Approx grid spacing in meters

QUESTIONS

What do I pass?: Latitude and longitude.
No coordinates?: Pass the place. A postal code, a city name, or /point all return elevation and elevation_ft on the same response.
What comes back?: Meters, feet, and the grid spacing at that point.
m or ft?: Both. elevation is meters. elevation_ft is feet.
What is the grid?: Nearest 30m sample. Ocean comes back negative, below sea level.
Is it on /point too?: Yes. /point and /postal send the same meters, feet, and resolution when you already have a place.

SPEED

How long /elevation takes.

17ms

32ms

APAC

42ms

LatAm

13ms

118ms

See live status →

Coverage

Pole to pole. Official land grid, ocean depth on the same field.

GLO-30 and ETOPO 2022

Land reads from Copernicus GLO-30, a global DEM built from TanDEM-X radar. 30 meters between samples, 3,600 samples per degree. That grid is what /elevation reads on land. The resolution field in every response is that spacing, returned as meters and feet for any lat/lon.

Ocean reads from ETOPO 2022, NOAA's bathymetry model. Depth comes back as a negative number in the same elevation field, no separate endpoint.

Coverage runs pole to pole, ocean floor included. The summit of Everest comes back as 8,729 meters, short of the surveyed 8,849 meters. Same radar-over-snow quirk as every radar-derived DEM.

Your height above sea level: What is my elevation?

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