simplemaplab

What Is My Elevation?

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

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Tap “Detect My Location” to see your elevation.

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 (Death Valley, Dead Sea shore, parts of New Orleans) show as a negative number labelled “below sea level”.

How to use this tool

  1. Tap Detect My Location and allow the browser permission prompt. Your elevation appears in feet (with meters in parentheses) as soon as GPS returns.
  2. To check anywhere else: drag the green pin, tap the map, or search for an address in the box below the map. 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.

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.
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 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.
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 −85 m (−279 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.
Use Elevation Finder to look up the elevation of any specific address or coordinate. This page (What Is My Elevation?) is optimised for the "where am I standing right now" question via GPS; Elevation Finder is the address-lookup companion.

What people use this for

Flood & property awareness

Homes only a few feet above sea level in South Florida, coastal Louisiana, or the Netherlands have measurable hurricane-surge and long-term sea-level-rise exposure. Check an address you're considering, or the one you already own.

Hiking & trail planning

Confirm the starting elevation of a trailhead, the altitude of a base camp, or the vertical gain between two points on a route. Useful for pacing, water planning, and acclimatization.

Altitude & health

Altitude sickness typically starts around 8,000 ft (2,400 m) and gets serious above 12,000 ft. Travelers to Cusco (11,150 ft), Lhasa (11,975 ft), or La Paz plan acclimatization days; endurance athletes check training-camp elevation.

Weather & cooking

Boiling point drops roughly 2°F per 1,000 ft above sea level — water boils around 194°F at 10,000 ft. Air pressure falls with elevation, so tire pressure, breathing, and cake recipes all shift; bakers at altitude adjust flour and leavening.

Aviation & drone planning

Ground elevation is the reference for VFR flight planning, AGL vs MSL calculations, and drone flight-ceiling limits. Useful for hobby planning only — this tool is not certified for aviation (see the accuracy note below).

Curiosity & city debates

“How high is Denver?” (5,280 ft, hence the Mile-High City). “How much higher is Aspen?” (7,908 ft). Settle debates and check the elevation of anywhere you're curious about — your GPS, an address, or a spot on the map.

To look up the elevation of a specific street address without standing there, use Elevation Finder — the address-lookup companion to this tool.