Elevation Profile

An elevation profile—also called a terrain profile or cross-section—is a two-dimensional chart that plots ground elevation (vertical axis) against horizontal distance along a line drawn on a map (horizontal axis). It transforms the three-dimensional reality of terrain into a simple, readable graph that reveals hills, valleys, cliffs, and gradients along any desired path. Elevation profiles are generated by sampling a digital elevation model (DEM) at regular intervals along the path and plotting the extracted heights. The vertical exaggeration—the ratio of vertical to horizontal scale—is often increased to make subtle elevation changes more visible, though excessive exaggeration can misrepresent slope steepness. Common applications include hiking and trail planning (assessing difficulty and cumulative gain), road and railway engineering (evaluating grade requirements), pipeline and utility corridor routing (identifying terrain obstacles), and geologic transects (visualizing subsurface structure). ArcGISArcGISArcGIS is a leading GIS platform offering tools for spatial analysis, mapping, and data visualization. It serves a wi... Pro’s Profile Graph tool, QGISQGISQGIS is a user-friendly, open-source GIS platform that provides tools for geospatial data analysis, mapping, and inte...’s Profile Tool plugin, Google Earth’s elevation profile, and web libraries like MapboxMapboxMapbox is a robust platform that equips developers with tools to create highly customizable, interactive maps for web...’s elevation API and Turf.jsTurf.jsTurf.js is an open-source JavaScript library for advanced geospatial analysis in the browser and on Node.js. It provi... all support profile generation. Interactive web elevation profiles often synchronize with the map, highlighting the user’s position along the path on both the profile chart and the map simultaneously.