simplemaplab

What Is My Elevation?

By Marko Visic · Updated Oct 12, 2026

Your current altitude above sea level, straight from GPS + terrain data. Works anywhere on Earth, shows negative values below sea level, no app needed.

Tap the button, then allow location when your browser asks.

Denver
above sea level · 39.73930, -104.98480
Source: AWS Terrain Tiles (USGS 3DEP / SRTM)

Example location · elevation from map data (AWS terrain tiles)
Drag the pin or tap the map to check the elevation of any point.

Boiling point, air pressure and oxygen at your elevation

Example: Denver, Colorado (5,279 ft)

Water boils at
202 °F (95 °C)
212 °F at sea level. Above 3,000 ft, USDA says cooking may need changes in time, temperature or recipe.
Air pressure
24.6 inHg (834 hPa)
82% of sea level in the standard atmosphere. Weather moves it a few percent.
Oxygen in each breath
82% of sea level
Air is 20.9% oxygen everywhere. Lower pressure puts less in each breath, like breathing 17.2% oxygen at sea level.
Altitude sickness
Below the risk zone
Below 8,000 ft (2,450 m). The CDC puts unacclimatized travelers at risk of altitude illness from that sleeping elevation, sometimes lower.
Closest famous places
About the same as Denver, CO (5,280 ft)
Exactly one mile — the "Mile-High City"

Pressure: U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976. Boiling point: IAPWS-IF97. Altitude sickness: CDC Yellow Book 2026. Cooking: USDA FSIS.

Elevation above sea level is how high the ground is at your location, measured against mean sea level. This tool asks your browser for GPS coordinates, then reads the terrain height at that spot from open-data map tiles: no app, no signup. Locations below sea level show as a negative number labeled “below sea level”.

How to use this tool

  1. The map opens on an example spot (the Colorado State Capitol). No location permission is needed. To read your elevation, tap the location button and allow the browser prompt; the map flies to you and your elevation appears in feet (with meters in parentheses) as soon as GPS returns.
  2. To check anywhere else, set a point three ways: tap the map, search an address in the box below the map, or drag the green pin. The number re-reads instantly at the new spot.
  3. A negative number in red means the ground is below mean sea level: Death Valley, the Dead Sea shore, parts of New Orleans. Use Copy shareable link to send someone the exact result you’re looking at.

What your elevation number means

Elevation is more than trivia. As you climb, the air thins and pressure drops, and that quietly changes how weather behaves, how food cooks, and how your body performs. Here is what the number actually affects.

Air pressure and weather

Atmospheric pressure falls by roughly one inch of mercury (about 3.4%) for every 1,000 ft you climb, so higher places have thinner, drier air. Temperature drops with height too, on average about 3.5°F per 1,000 ft, which is why mountain towns stay cool in summer and nearby peaks hold snow long after the valleys have thawed.

Cooking and boiling point

Because water boils at a lower temperature in thinner air (about 2°F lower per 1,000 ft), it boils near 202°F in Denver and around 194°F at 10,000 ft, versus 212°F at sea level. Food simmering in cooler water cooks more slowly, and baked goods rise and dry out faster, which is why high-altitude recipes add liquid and cut back on leavening.

Your body and altitude sickness

Lower pressure means less oxygen reaches your blood with each breath. Acute mountain sickness can set in above about 8,000 ft (2,400 m), the elevation of many ski resorts, and grows more serious above 10,000–12,000 ft. Ascending gradually and resting to acclimatize are the main defenses. (General information, not medical advice.)

Exercise and performance

Thinner air cuts aerobic capacity, so endurance efforts feel harder and race times slow at altitude, which is why athletes often train high to boost red-blood-cell production, then compete low. The same thin air lets a well-hit baseball or golf ball carry noticeably farther, a big reason Denver’s ballpark is known for home runs.

Line of sight, radio, and GPS

Height extends how far you can see and transmit. From higher ground your horizon is farther away, and radio, cell, and other line-of-sight signals reach farther, a reason towers, fire lookouts, and relay stations sit on high points. You can estimate that reach with the Horizon Distance Calculator.

How elevation is measured

There are two very different ways to get an elevation, and they do not always agree. Your phone can estimate altitude from GPS or from a built-in barometric pressure sensor, and both are shaky: GPS pins your horizontal position well but is far less accurate vertically, often off by 10–30 m (30–100 ft), and a barometer is only as good as its last calibration, drifting as the weather changes the air pressure around you.

This tool takes a different approach. Instead of measuring the air, it looks up the height of the ground itself: it reads your latitude and longitude, then queries a digital elevation model (DEM), a global grid of terrain heights built from satellite and survey data, for the elevation at that exact point. That is why it returns a consistent number for a given spot on any device, and why it can differ from the wandering figure on your phone’s compass or fitness app.

One caveat: a DEM records the surface the sensors saw, so in dense forest or built-up areas the value can sit a few meters above bare ground. For the exact datasets and their accuracy by region, see the data-sources note below.

Elevation of famous places

Elevation only means something in comparison. Here is a scale from the lowest dry land in North America to the summit of Everest, a yardstick for whatever number the tool shows you.

PlaceElevation (ft)Elevation (m)Note
Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA−282−86Lowest point in North America
Sea level (reference)00Mean sea level datum
Chicago, IL594181Typical Midwestern lakeshore city
Atlanta, GA1,050320Among the highest major cities in the East
Salt Lake City, UT4,2261,288Base of the Wasatch Range
Denver, CO5,2801,609Exactly one mile — the "Mile-High City"
Santa Fe, NM7,1992,194Highest US state capital
Mexico City, Mexico7,3502,240One of the highest large cities
Aspen, CO7,9082,410Rocky Mountain resort town
Leadville, CO10,1523,094Highest incorporated city in the US
Cusco, Peru11,1503,399Gateway to Machu Picchu
Mount Whitney, CA14,5054,421Highest peak in the contiguous US
Everest Base Camp, Nepal17,5985,364South base camp
Denali, AK20,3106,190Highest peak in North America
Mount Everest summit29,0328,849Highest point on Earth

Denver’s 5,280 ft is exactly one mile, the source of the “Mile-High City” nickname, marked by a step carved into the Colorado State Capitol at precisely one mile above sea level.

Why people check their elevation

Hiking, backpacking, and the outdoors

Confirm the starting elevation of a trailhead, the altitude of a base camp, or the vertical gain between two points on a route: the inputs behind pacing, water planning, and acclimatization. To chart the climbs and descents along a whole route rather than a single point, use the Elevation Profile.

Real estate, flooding, and sea-level rise

Homes only a few feet above sea level in South Florida, coastal Louisiana, or the Netherlands carry measurable hurricane-surge and long-term sea-level-rise exposure. Checking the elevation of an address you own or are considering is a quick first read, though it is not a substitute for an official FEMA flood map or a surveyor.

Aviation, drones, and line of sight

Ground elevation is the reference for above-ground-level (AGL) versus mean-sea-level (MSL) calculations, drone flight-ceiling limits, and VFR planning. It is useful for hobby planning only; this tool is not certified for aviation (see the accuracy note below).

Health, travel, and everyday curiosity

Travelers to Cusco (11,150 ft), Lhasa (11,975 ft), or La Paz plan acclimatization days; endurance athletes check a training camp’s height. And plenty of people just want to settle a debate (is my town higher than a friend’s, or how much altitude will I feel on that ski trip) for their GPS, an address, or any spot on the map.

Frequently asked questions

Allow location access at the top of this page and the tool answers in feet (with meters in parentheses) as soon as your GPS returns. The number is the elevation of the terrain at your current coordinates, decoded from AWS Terrain Tiles.
Use a GPS device or a map tool. On this page, tap the location button and allow the browser prompt to read your elevation from your coordinates in feet and meters, with no app or account needed. To find the elevation of a place you are not standing at, search an address or tap the spot on the map instead.
This page shows your terrain altitude: how high the ground is above mean sea level at your location. That is different from aircraft altitude (which is your aircraft above the ground or above pressure-level surfaces) and from GPS ellipsoid height (which is measured against a mathematical earth model, not sea level).
Yes, this page is the app. It runs in any modern browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) on phone or desktop. No install, no signup, no login. The tool asks for location permission once; the elevation comes from map data, not from your phone's barometer.
In everyday use the words are swapped freely, but there is a distinction. Elevation is the height of a fixed point on the ground above mean sea level. Altitude is more general: usually the height of an object (an aircraft, a balloon, you) above a reference, which might be the ground (AGL) or sea level (MSL). When you are standing on the ground, the terrain elevation this page reports is also your altitude above sea level.
Your phone estimates altitude from GPS or a built-in barometric pressure sensor, and both are error-prone. GPS is far less accurate vertically than horizontally (often off by 10–30 m, or 30–100 ft), and a barometer drifts as the weather changes the air pressure around you unless it is recalibrated. This tool instead reads the ground height from a digital elevation model at your coordinates, which is usually more stable and accurate for the elevation of the land itself.
In the contiguous US and Hawaii, elevations use USGS 3DEP data at roughly 2 meters vertical accuracy. Between 60°N and 56°S, most of the world is covered by SRTM v3 at roughly 9 meters vertical accuracy. Polar regions and remote islands fall back to coarser sources (25–42 m). Not accurate enough for engineering, flood determination, or aviation. See the methodology note below.
This page does not read your phone's altimeter. It takes your GPS latitude and longitude, then looks up the ground height at that point in a digital elevation model (DEM): AWS Terrain Tiles, which merges USGS 3DEP, SRTM, ArcticDEM, and other open datasets. That is why it works on any device and returns a consistent number for a given spot. See the data-sources note for accuracy by region.
A negative elevation means the terrain is below mean sea level. Real-world examples: the shore of the Dead Sea reads roughly −430 m (−1,410 ft), the Badwater basin in Death Valley reads roughly −86 m (−282 ft), and parts of New Orleans read a few meters below sea level. The tool labels these results "below sea level" so the sign is unambiguous.
The highest point is Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska at 20,310 ft (6,190 m); the highest in the contiguous 48 states is Mount Whitney, California, at 14,505 ft (4,421 m). The lowest point is Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, at −282 ft (−86 m) below sea level, and it sits only about 85 miles from Mount Whitney.
Acute mountain sickness (headache, nausea, fatigue, and shortness of breath) can start above about 8,000 ft (2,400 m), and the risk rises the higher and faster you climb. How to lower that risk (ascend gradually and acclimatize) is covered in the "Your body and altitude sickness" section above. General information, not medical advice.
There is no single best elevation. Most people live comfortably from sea level up to a few thousand feet. Very low coastal areas carry flood and storm-surge exposure, while living much above 8,000 ft (2,400 m) means thinner air that some people take time to adjust to. Moderate elevations in between are the most common. Comfort depends on your health, the local climate, and acclimatization, so treat elevation as one factor among many, not a health verdict.
Yes. Water boils cooler as elevation rises, roughly 2°F lower per 1,000 ft, so it boils near 202°F in Denver instead of 212°F at sea level, and boiled food cooks more slowly. Baking shifts too, because the thinner air lets doughs rise faster. The "Cooking and boiling point" section above has the full picture, including the adjustments high-altitude recipes make.
Use Elevation Finder to look up the elevation of any specific address or coordinate. This page (What Is My Elevation?) is optimized for the "where am I standing right now" question via GPS; Elevation Finder is the address-lookup companion.

Related tools and resources

To look up the elevation of a specific street address without standing there, use Elevation Finder, the address-lookup companion to this GPS page. To see how the ground rises and falls along a whole route, the Elevation Profile charts cumulative gain and loss between points.

Curious how far you can see from a given height? The Horizon Distance Calculator turns elevation into line-of-sight range. New to reading elevation on a map? The guide How to Find Elevation on Google Maps walks through the options step by step.

Data sources and accuracy