[BattyMilk]

Piggy backing off this thread for my own question.

I've a small webapp to show me my elevation based on my lat/lon. I built it with Google's API as I've used it before and it's what I know. It doesn't get much traffic so it's unlikely to ever cost much once my free credit expires but I'd like to explore other options.

What alternative (preferably free) services are there out there? I need to be able to pass lat/lon and get back the elevation above sea level of that point on earth.

[ryandrake]

That would depend on what your resolution and accuracy requirements are. Ground level or treetop? If you are willing to DIY there are freely available DEM (Digital Elevation Model) datasets that might work for you. For example ASTER[1] has global 90 meter resolution and 30 meter resolution in the USA. There are smaller, embeddable DEMs with ~1km resolution. Lots of options out there. Grab a coffee and start with an internet search for DEM.

1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Spaceborne_Thermal_...

[BattyMilk]

Cheers, I'll take a read. I'm looking for ground level (I use it to calibrate the barometer on my watch at the start of a hike/trail run/climb)

[mtmail]

We (https://opencagedata.com/) have such an API in beta. We're not happy with the performance yet, but might be enough for your use-case.

[Doctor_Fegg]

I've been doing some interesting experiments with elevation compression recently that make it realistic to have large swathes of the earth memory-resident. If you're interested you know where to find me!