Topographical or relief data in Map APIs

bing-maps, google-maps, topography

Solution

Here's a simple example of height along a route.

I use USGS to obtain the elevation data, Google Maps API to plot the route and Google Charts to draw the elevation profile.

Full details in the associated tutorial.

Problem

I was wondering if anyone knew of any map APIs that offer topographical or relief data? I've had a quick look at Google and Bing APIs, but could find nothing there. Google allow you to view a map as TERRAIN, which means you can see the topography of a map, but I want to be able to get at that data - i.e. if I were to draw a line between 2 points on Google Maps, I want to know how high above see level points along that line are. Is this possible with any map APIs out there? Thanks for your time!

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