Getting altitude from latitude and longitude (HERE-API)

Question

Is there anyway with the HERE Javascript API to obtain an altitude given a specific latitude/longitude pair? The geo point returned by map.screenToGeo() only returns latitude and longitude as far as I can tell.

Nonperishable

Answer 1

You can't do it with the HERE API, that I can see, but you can get that information from the Google Elevation API.

By making a GET call and passing in the latitude and longitude in the query, you can get back the altitude from sea level in meters:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/elevation/json?locations=40.714728,-73.998672

This will return a json object like this:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "elevation" : 8.883694648742676,
         "location" : {
            "lat" : 40.714728,
            "lng" : -73.998672
         },
         "resolution" : 76.35161590576172
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

More info: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/elevation/intro

Fewness

Nice, this just works! Is there a similar request, I could use for OpenStreetmap? – Manion

@Manion From what I can see, no. There was a proposal for it that didn't go anywhere? wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/… – Fewness

Currently, an api key is required. – Forfend

Answer 2

There is a plenty different APIs in Internet. The most popular is google on that was mentioned above. Here is the another one here: https://algorithmia.com/algorithms/Gaploid/Elevation

var input = {
    "lat": "50.2111",
    "lon": "18.1233"
};
Algorithmia.client("YOUR_API_KEY")
           .algo("algo://Gaploid/Elevation/0.3.0")
           .pipe(input)
           .then(function(output) {
             console.log(output);
           });

Evasion

I was very happy with opentopodata.org, as it is very fast (almost instant reply). – Korfonta

Answer 3

I know that the question has not been active in a long time but I happened to stumble upon the same doubt and found that this is posible using Here Routing API v8.

https://developer.here.com/documentation/routing-api/dev_guide/topics/use-cases/elevation-profile.html

Rabush

Answer 4

No, I don't see how this is possible since latitude and longitude are just x and y coordinates and in no way convey any type of information as to the altitude.

Fitzgerald

There are big databases in the world, which contain the altitude value for each GPS position. The altitude isn't calculated from longitude/latitude, instead it's queried and interpolated. – Ardy