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Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

Contour Line Overlays in GaiaPro

by Kate Dougherty October 5, 2016
written by Kate Dougherty
5.3K
Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

Contours-Meters overlaid on the Mapbox Aerial layer.

GaiaPro users can overlay base maps with worldwide contour lines in either feet or meters for additional context. You can layer the contours with any source, but will probably find them most useful when paired with satellite imagery.

Add the contour layers to the map by opening the More Layers menu, then the GaiaPro Overlays category. Read these Help Center articles for info about how to use layered maps on iOS and Android.

We also suggest you set the opacity of the contour layer to slightly less than 100% for best performance.

Optimized Contour Intervals

We styled the contours to work well across zoom levels. They first show up at zoom level 10, and render differently as you zoom in.

new-contour-source-menuContours-Feet

  • z10-11: 400 feet, no labels
  • z12-13: 200 feet, labels for every other contour
  • z14+: 40 feet, labels for every fifth contour

Contours-Meters

  • z10-11: 100 meters, no labels
  • z12-13: 50 meters, labels for every other contour
  • z14+: 10 meters, labels for every fifth contour

Use the Same Great Data in New Ways

We originally created the contours for the Gaia Topo project, then extracted them from that source to create two new, separate overlays with transparent backgrounds.

Both the feet and meters overlays use the same source data—digital elevation models (DEMs) including Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) topo data, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Mission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)’s Global Digital Elevation Model, and the U.S. National Elevation Dataset (NED).

Help Improve the Layers

We plan to continue improving the contours over time. You can help by reporting errors like missing or incorrect data at https://tileslicing.gaiagps.com/preview/contours-meters/ or https://tileslicing.gaiagps.com/preview/contours-feet/.

As always, feel free to email support@gaiagps.com if you have any questions or feedback.

 

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Kate Dougherty

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