Highlands elevation data and contour lines
Macon County • Mountains • Town
Highlands sits on a high plateau at the southern edge of the Blue Ridge, where the Blue Ridge Escarpment falls away toward Georgia and South Carolina. Whiteside Mountain and Satulah Mountain stand near town, and the Cullasaja River leaves through a deep gorge to the northwest.
Download topographic data
- Contour lines: GeoJSON, Shapefile, DXF, KML, SVG and PDF
- 3D models: STL and OBJ for 3D printing and modeling
- Elevation model: GeoTIFF of the bare-earth DEM
- Data source: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, public domain
Create elevation profiles
- Hiking routes: Plan trails with the climb and descent along the way
- Cycling routes: See the climbs and descents before you ride
- Sites and driveways: Cross-sections for site planning and permit drawings
- Interactive chart: Hover to read the elevation at any point
Sun and terrain in Highlands
South-facing slopes get the most sun, especially in winter when the sun stays low. North-facing slopes and the floors of narrow valleys can stay in shade for much of the day. The Sunlight tool shows where the terrain around Highlands casts shade, and Slope & Aspect shows which way each slope faces.
The winter solstice on December 21 has the lowest sun and the longest shadows, and the summer solstice on June 21 has the highest sun. Compare the two to see how a site changes through the year.
Tools for Highlands
A PDF terrain report for a parcel: hillshade, contours, slope and elevation statistics.
How the tool worksContour lines at the interval you choose, on the map and as vector files.
How the tool worksHours of direct sun on any day of the year, with shadows cast by the terrain.
How the tool worksNearby places
More in Macon County
Lidar coverage, property boundaries and every tool for the county: Macon County elevation and terrain tools.
About the elevation data for Highlands
The tools read the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) bare-earth elevation model, built from airborne lidar: 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar has been flown, with buildings and vegetation removed, and elevations above NAVD 88. North Carolina’s statewide lidar is published through NC OneMap and carried by USGS 3DEP. The data suits:
- GIS users: Import contour lines straight into QGIS, ArcGIS or other GIS software
- Architects, engineers and surveyors: Terrain for site design and planning
- Hikers and trail runners: Plan routes with accurate elevation profiles
- Property buyers and rural landowners: Check slope, sun and drainage before you buy or build
- Teachers: Geography, geology and earth science lessons
- 3D printing: Make a physical terrain model of Highlands
USGS 3DEP data is in the public domain, so it can be used commercially. Every file you download from this site still names its sources. The elevation on this page is the bare ground at Highlands’s point in the USGS Geographic Names Information System, rounded to the nearest 100 ft, and can differ from signs and printed maps.