North Carolina Elevation Tools is a browser-based mapping tool that turns USGS 3DEP lidar elevation data for North Carolina into contour lines, elevation profiles, slope and viewshed analysis, terrain statistics, property terrain reports and 3D-printable models — with no account, no software install and no GIS experience required.
Pan to a place, draw an area or a line on the map — or click a property to use its county parcel boundary — then pick a tool. Results appear on the map and download in the format you need, or as a georeferenced aerial photo of the site for your GIS or CAD.
Selects the county assessor’s parcel under the cursor, from NC OneMap’s statewide parcel service, and uses its boundary as the analysis area, so results are clipped to the actual property rather than a rectangle drawn by eye. Available in every county.
How it works →Generates a multi-page PDF terrain report for a parcel — hillshade, contours, slope and aspect breakdowns and elevation statistics — closing with a checklist of the official records the report does not cover (county assessor and planning records, FEMA flood maps, NC Geological Survey landslide mapping, wells, septic, wetlands and coastal rules, and a title search), each pointed at the agency that holds it.
How it works →Keeps up to five places in this browser and compares elevation, slope, winter sunlight and drainage. Export the shortlist as a JSON file.
How it works →Combines slope, facing direction, modeled winter sunlight, wetness and room for a building pad into one filter, with presets for house sites, solar, orchards and more; any matching patch can become the area for the next tool. Terrain criteria, not a zoning or buildability assessment — check with the county.
How it works →Generates topographic contours at any interval from 1 ft upward, rendered on the map and exportable as vectors.
How it works →Computes slope steepness and the compass direction each face points, including a full aspect distribution (share of land facing N/NE/E/… plus the flat share) — the terrain measure behind building permits, excavation, solar and pasture questions.
How it works →Models hours of direct sun across a site on any day of the year — the shortest day, an equinox or the longest day — with shadows cast by terrain up to 1.86 mi away. Trees and buildings are not modeled. The default winter date is December 21. Shows when the sun first reaches the area and when it last leaves (Eastern time), and lets you step through the day half an hour at a time to watch the shadows move.
How it works →Summarizes minimum, maximum, mean and range of elevation across an area, plus its hypsometric (elevation frequency) distribution.
How it works →Estimates vertical cut and fill volumes to a level pad at a chosen elevation, or finds the elevation that balances the volumes. Excludes side slopes, soil swell and compaction.
How it works →Classifies terrain into ten landforms, including ridges, valleys, hollows and flats, using an adjustable neighborhood radius.
How it works →Returns the ground elevation in feet at a single coordinate.
How it works →Two analyses on depression-filled terrain: drainage channels extracted as a Strahler-ordered stream network (exportable as GeoJSON/KML), and ponding — where water would stand once hollows fill, with depth, area and volume.
How it works →Maps topographic wetness potential from slope and contributing area. Shows relative terrain-driven moisture concentration, not measured soil moisture or flood depth.
How it works →Maps the upstream terrain draining to the clicked cell, with an adjustable search radius and a warning when the catchment reaches the loaded terrain edge or missing data.
How it works →Calculates which ground is in line of sight from an observer, within a radius of your choice: 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 miles. It allows for earth curvature and refraction, with a choice of eye height and target height; trees and buildings are not modeled — used for protecting a view, siting a house, and antenna or camera placement.
How it works →Checks whether one point is visible from another — a house site to a ridge, a deck to the sound — and if not, where the view is first blocked and by how much, with the terrain profile and sightline drawn together.
How it works →Produces a cross-section along any line, with distance, total ascent and descent, and grade — for trails, roads, driveways, pipe runs and fence lines.
How it works →Measures the flat map length of a line tapped out corner by corner. For the climb and grade along a line, use Elevation Profile.
How it works →Explores a terrain route favoring gentler grades, enforcing a maximum grade and showing its elevation profile. Exports the route as GeoJSON and the profile as CSV. Does not assess legal access or construction feasibility.
How it works →Exports the selected area as contour vectors, a DEM raster, a georeferenced aerial photo or a 3D surface mesh.
How it works →Adds ground elevation from the USGS 3DEP model to the coordinates in a file you already have, replacing missing or noisy GPS altitude.
How it works →Every tool has a page explaining what it does, how the calculation works and where it can mislead: all tool explanations.
The only source of every elevation on the site: a seamless bare-earth digital elevation model built from lidar — 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey exists, 1/9 arc-second (about 9.8 ft per pixel) where the model is built from older lidar, and 1/3 arc-second data (about 33 ft per pixel) where neither exists — read through this site’s own tile and export routes. The map tools read it as terrain tiles; downloads, contours, terrain statistics, the property data bundle and elevations added to uploaded files read it directly. Elevations are above NAVD 88. Public domain.
www.usgs.gov/3d-elevation-programNorth Carolina’s open geospatial data portal, run by the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. It publishes the statewide compilation of the county assessors’ GIS parcels that the Property tool reads (all 100 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in one schema), the AddressNC geocoder used for address search, and the state’s own lidar-derived elevation downloads.
www.nconemap.gov/pages/parcelsShows which full-resolution lidar work unit covers each place, with its collection year, quality level and ground sample distance. From it, every download states what share of its area fell outside the full-resolution lidar work units.
www.usgs.gov/3d-elevation-programParcel boundaries for the Property tool come from each county assessor’s GIS, as compiled statewide by NC OneMap; the parcel carries the county’s own parcel number, site address and acreage. Parcels are assessment maps, not surveys, and the county that published each one is named with it.
www.nconemap.gov/pages/parcelsPlace names for search: towns, peaks, lakes, streams and other named features in North Carolina.
www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnisThe basemaps you can switch between: USGS Topo from The National Map (place names, trails and roads), shaded relief rendered from 3DEP, and aerial imagery from Esri World Imagery (Imagery: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community). Backdrop only; no measurement is taken from them.
www.usgs.gov/programs/national-geospatial-program/national-mapAccuracy is inherited from the USGS 3DEP source and the lidar project behind it, not asserted by this tool. Where a full-resolution lidar survey exists the model is 3.3 ft per pixel and its vertical accuracy is that project’s, as USGS publishes it; where the model is built from older lidar it is about 9.8 ft per pixel; outside both the seamless DEM is about 33 ft per pixel and far coarser. The lidar coverage checker names the survey, its year and its quality level at any point, and every download states what share of its area fell outside the full-resolution lidar work units. Values are bare-earth elevations above NAVD 88 from a digital elevation model — they exclude buildings and tree canopy and are not a substitute for a surveyed elevation where a legal or engineering decision depends on it.
USGS 3DEP elevation data and USGS maps are U.S. Government works in the public domain: you may use the results, including commercially. A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated, and every file you download carries it. County parcel boundaries are the assessor's GIS data compiled by NC OneMap, not surveys, and the county that published each parcel is named with it. The aerial basemap is from Esri and follows Esri's terms; it is not included in downloads.
| Format | Type | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|
| GeoJSON .geojson | Contour vectors | QGIS, web maps, Leaflet, MapLibre and scripting (WGS84) |
| Shapefile .shp.zip | Contour vectors | ArcGIS and traditional GIS workflows |
| DXF .dxf | Contour vectors | AutoCAD, Civil 3D and CAD drafting (North Carolina State Plane, US survey feet, local origin) |
| KML .kml | Contour vectors | Google Earth and Google Maps (WGS84) |
| SVG .svg | Contour vectors | Illustration, laser cutting and print design |
| PDF .pdf | Contour vectors | Print-ready topographic map sheets |
| STL .stl | 3D surface | 3D printing a physical terrain model |
| OBJ .obj | 3D surface | Blender, Cinema 4D and 3D rendering |
| GeoTIFF .tif | Raster | The digital elevation model itself, for GIS and analysis (values in the file are in meters, as USGS publishes them) |
| Aerial photo .zip (JPEG + world file) | Raster | A georeferenced color aerial photo of the site (USGS NAIP, public domain, about 1 ft per pixel where available) with a world file and projection file in Web Mercator, for QGIS, ArcGIS, AutoCAD Civil 3D and other GIS or CAD; for a property it covers the parcel plus 100 ft on every side |
Files you upload for elevation enrichment can be GPX, KML, GeoJSON, JSON, CSV.
Output resolution scales with the size of the area you select. Exports are capped at 1,024 pixels on the longest side, with a floor of 3.3 ft per pixel — so a 900 ft building site is delivered at the full lidar detail, while a block 7.5 miles on a side is resampled to roughly 39 ft per pixel. Select a smaller area when you need fine detail.
Check slope, aspect, drainage and views on a parcel before committing, using the county assessor’s parcel boundary rather than a guess.
Understand the slope and aspect of fields, pasture and timber ground, work out where water runs, and plan roads, trails and fence lines.
Pull site contours straight into CAD in North Carolina State Plane feet, assess a sloping lot, and understand driveway grades before a survey is commissioned.
Get contours, DEM rasters and terrain statistics from USGS 3DEP lidar for a defined area without downloading and processing raw tiles.
Generate accurate elevation profiles for a route and correct the elevation recorded by a GPS watch.
Export any part of North Carolina as an STL or OBJ mesh and 3D print it.
Google serves a global elevation model that is far coarser than lidar at 3.3 ft per pixel and offers no contour generation, no slope or viewshed analysis, and no vector or CAD export. North Carolina Elevation Tools covers North Carolina only, but reads the USGS 3DEP lidar elevation model and exports to GIS, CAD and 3D formats.
The National Map is the authoritative source, but it hands you raw tiles that need GIS software and processing skill. This tool reads the same public-domain data and returns finished contours, profiles, statistics and meshes in the browser — at the cost of a size cap per request.
Desktop GIS is more capable and has no limits, but requires installation, data acquisition and expertise. This tool answers the common North Carolina terrain questions in a few clicks and exports into those same packages when deeper work is needed.
Those tools are global, so they correct elevation against whatever global or regional model they hold for a place. Within North Carolina this tool corrects against the USGS 3DEP model, 3.3 ft per pixel wherever a full-resolution lidar survey has been flown, which is materially more accurate on steep or complex ground.
Those show the published USGS topographic map series, where each map sheet uses one fixed contour interval chosen for its terrain — commonly 40 ft in North Carolina’s mountains and 10 or 20 ft on the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. This tool generates contours at any interval you choose from the underlying elevation model, and lets you export them.
The tools are. Every map, measurement and analysis on the site is free to use, with no account or sign-up — you can run contours, slope, drainage, viewsheds and the property report and see every result on screen. Downloading the results needs a pass: US$29 for 24 hours, US$99 for 30 days or US$399 for 12 months, each a one-off payment in US dollars, none a subscription. Limits apply to the size of the area you can process in a single request.
From the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). The only source is its seamless bare-earth elevation model, built from lidar: 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey has been flown, about 9.8 ft per pixel where the model is built from older lidar, and about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere. North Carolina’s statewide lidar is published through NC OneMap and carried by USGS 3DEP. The map tools read it as terrain tiles through this site’s own routes; downloads read it directly and state what share of the area fell outside the full-resolution lidar work units. There is no surface model of buildings and trees for North Carolina, so every tool is bare earth.
Accuracy is inherited from the USGS 3DEP source and the lidar project behind it, not asserted by this tool. Where a full-resolution lidar survey exists the model is 3.3 ft per pixel and its vertical accuracy is that project’s, as USGS publishes it; where the model is built from older lidar it is about 9.8 ft per pixel; outside both the seamless DEM is about 33 ft per pixel and far coarser. The lidar coverage checker names the survey, its year and its quality level at any point, and every download states what share of its area fell outside the full-resolution lidar work units. Values are bare-earth elevations above NAVD 88 from a digital elevation model — they exclude buildings and tree canopy and are not a substitute for a surveyed elevation where a legal or engineering decision depends on it.
The tool works anywhere in North Carolina, from the Tennessee line to the Outer Banks. USGS 3DEP serves lidar-derived elevation across North Carolina: 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey exists, about 9.8 ft per pixel where the model is built from older lidar. Where no lidar work unit exists at all the seamless DEM falls back to about 33 ft per pixel and results are coarser.
Contours export as GeoJSON, Shapefile, DXF, KML, SVG and PDF. Terrain surfaces export as STL and OBJ for 3D printing and modeling, and as GeoTIFF for the digital elevation model itself. A georeferenced aerial photo of the site downloads as a JPEG with a world file and projection file (Web Mercator, EPSG:3857) in a .zip. DXF files are in North Carolina State Plane (EPSG:2264) in US survey feet, with a local origin; GeoJSON and KML are in WGS84. Files you upload for elevation enrichment can be GPX, KML, GeoJSON, JSON, CSV.
Yes, with a pass, like the other downloads. Download Data’s Aerial format delivers a georeferenced color aerial photo of your area from USGS NAIP orthoimagery, which is in the public domain: about 1 ft per pixel where available, as a JPEG with a world file and projection file in Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) that drops straight into QGIS, ArcGIS, AutoCAD Civil 3D and other GIS or CAD software. For a property it covers the parcel plus 100 ft on every side. The aerial basemap you see on the map is Esri World Imagery, which is for display only and is not what you download.
Any interval from 1 ft upward. That is far finer than the contours on published topographic maps, which is why the tool is useful for site-scale work such as building pads, driveways and drainage.
No. Everything runs in a normal web browser — draw an area or a line on the map, pick a tool, and download the result. Exports are provided in formats that GIS and CAD packages read if you want to take the work further.
USGS 3DEP elevation data and USGS maps are U.S. Government works in the public domain: you may use the results, including commercially. A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated, and every file you download carries it. County parcel boundaries are the assessor's GIS data compiled by NC OneMap, not surveys, and the county that published each parcel is named with it. The aerial basemap is from Esri and follows Esri's terms; it is not included in downloads.
Contours and downloads allow up to 7.5 miles per side, terrain statistics and elevation enrichment up to 3.7 miles per side, and elevation profiles up to 15.5 miles long. Output resolution scales with the size of the area you select. Exports are capped at 1,024 pixels on the longest side, with a floor of 3.3 ft per pixel — so a 900 ft building site is delivered at the full lidar detail, while a block 7.5 miles on a side is resampled to roughly 39 ft per pixel. Select a smaller area when you need fine detail.
Yes, in every county. The Property tool fetches the county assessor’s parcel under the point you click, from NC OneMap’s statewide parcel service, and uses that boundary as the analysis area, so contours, slope and statistics are clipped to the real parcel. Parcel lines are the assessor’s GIS data, not a survey. You can also search by address or place name.
Consumer GPS elevation is derived from satellite geometry or a barometric sensor and is typically the least accurate part of a recorded track, especially in valleys and under forest canopy. Uploading the file and re-sampling it against the 3DEP elevation model replaces those values with ground elevation from lidar.
North Carolina Elevation Tools is built by MapScaping (https://mapscaping.com), which produces geospatial tools, writing and a long-running podcast about the geospatial industry.
Built by MapScaping.