What Is My Elevation?
Your height above sea level in metres and feet, answered the moment this page loads
Reading elevation for your location...
How precise is this? Based on the coordinates you entered. The elevation is the modelled ground height at that point, so it is the elevation of the place, not of the floor you are standing on. Expect it to be right to within roughly 10 metres in flat terrain, and less certain on steep ground where a few hundred metres sideways changes the answer.
Elevation and weather data from MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute), used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. We round the values and add imperial conversions for display. The underlying data is otherwise unchanged.
The GPS button is optional. Your browser will ask permission, and the page already works without it.
Understanding elevation
Elevation is how high a point on the ground sits above mean sea level. It is a property of the place, not of you, which is why a phone sitting on a table and a phone on the roof of the same building report the same elevation from a map service.
Elevation, altitude and height are not the same word
| Term | Measured from | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| Elevation | ground level, above mean sea level | maps, surveying, this page |
| Altitude | an object in the air, above sea level or above ground | aviation, drones |
| Height | the surface directly underneath | buildings, towers |
| GPS altitude | the WGS84 ellipsoid, a mathematical shape | raw GNSS receivers |
That last row is why your phone sometimes disagrees with a map. Raw GPS altitude is measured against a smooth mathematical ellipsoid, and the real sea-level surface sits tens of metres away from it depending on where you are. A map service applies a geoid correction. Your phone often does not.
Where this number comes from
We ask MET Norway's Locationforecast service for your coordinates. Its response carries the ground elevation of the model grid cell containing that point, in metres above sea level, which is what you see above. The same single request also returns current conditions, which is why the weather panel costs no extra lookup. We cache every answer on our own servers for as long as MET says it stays valid, so repeat visits and repeat coordinates do not create new load on a free public service.
Want the coordinates behind this? Open GPS coordinates for a precise device reading, see the same position on a map with find my location, or switch formats using the coordinate converter.
More location tools: check what your IP address reveals, look up any IP address, or see recent earthquakes near you.
Elevation questions people actually ask
What is my elevation right now?+
The number at the top of this page is the ground elevation above mean sea level for the location we resolved for you, shown in both metres and feet. It loads automatically, so there is nothing to click and no permission prompt.
How accurate is this elevation reading?+
The elevation itself comes from a terrain model and is typically within about 10 metres of the true ground height. The bigger source of error is the location, not the elevation: an IP address usually resolves to a city centre, so in hilly terrain the answer can be off by a lot. Use the manual coordinate entry or the GPS button for a specific spot.
Why does my phone show a different altitude?+
Phones often report raw GPS altitude, which is measured against the WGS84 ellipsoid rather than sea level. The two surfaces differ by tens of metres depending on where you are, and phone barometers drift with the weather. Map-derived elevation like the figure here is usually the more stable number.
What is the difference between elevation and altitude?+
Elevation describes a point on the ground relative to sea level. Altitude usually describes something in the air, either above sea level or above the ground beneath it. A mountain has an elevation. An aircraft has an altitude.
Do I need to allow location access to use this?+
No. The page answers from the location your IP address already resolves to, which needs no permission. The GPS button is there if you want a precise reading for exactly where you are standing, and it is entirely optional.
At what elevation does altitude sickness start?+
Most people notice nothing below about 2,400 metres, which is roughly 8,000 feet. Symptoms become more common above that, and the risk rises with how fast you ascend rather than the height alone. This page shows your estimated air pressure and effective oxygen so you can see how thin the air is where you are.
Can I check the elevation of somewhere else?+
Yes. Open the manual entry panel and type any latitude and longitude, or search for a city. The result updates without reloading the page.
Is this elevation tool free?+
Yes, completely, with no account and no limit on how many locations you check.
Data sources and credits
Elevation and weather on this page come from the Locationforecast 2.0 service operated by MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The data is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence and is used here under that licence. Changes we make for display: elevation is rounded to the nearest metre, feet and Fahrenheit and miles per hour are converted from the metric values MET publish, and the air pressure and effective oxygen figures on this page are our own estimates from the standard atmosphere model rather than anything MET supplied. The forecast data itself is unmodified. MET Norway does not endorse WhatIsMyLocation and is not responsible for how the data is presented here. Their full terms are in the MET Norway API terms of service.
More location & ip tools
Free, in-browser. No signup.
My IP Address
Detect your public IPv4 and IPv6 with ISP info.
IP Lookup
Geolocation, ISP, organization, and timezone for any IP.
GPS Coordinates
Read your device latitude and longitude.
Find My Location
Pinpoint your location on an interactive map.
Earthquakes Near Me
Recent recorded quakes around your location.
Coordinate Converter
Convert between DMS, decimal, UTM, MGRS.
More Tools