Wisconsin Elevation ToolsLook up an elevation →

Wisconsin Elevation Lookup: Find the Elevation of Any Point

Checking a building site, a flood question or just curious how high your place is? Click any point in Wisconsin and read the ground elevation in feet, from the USGS 3D Elevation Program's lidar.

Ready to find your elevation?

Open the tool, click anywhere on the map and see the elevation at that spot in feet above sea level.

Look up an elevation →

Find the elevation of any point in Wisconsin

The Add Elevation tool reads the USGS 3DEP seamless bare-earth model at the point you click: 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar exists. The answer comes back in feet above NAVD 88, with the coordinates of the point and the resolution of the data behind it.

Unlike a phone's altitude reading, which comes from satellite geometry or a barometer, the elevation here comes from an airborne laser survey of the ground itself. No account, nothing to install.

Why you might need an elevation

  • Building and remodeling: foundations, drainage and driveways all start from the existing ground level, and some building permit questions turn on elevation. Your county planning department will tell you which.
  • Flood questions: how high a lot sits relative to a nearby creek or river is the first thing to know before reading the FEMA flood maps.
  • Buying property: a few clicks show whether a lot sits on a rise or in a low spot where water may collect.
  • Farm and drainage planning: high ground, low ground and the fall between them decide ditches, ponds, tile drainage and irrigation.
  • Fieldwork and research: geography, ecology and geology all need reliable point elevations.

How to look up an elevation

  1. Open the map. It opens on the whole state; switch between aerial, topographic and relief basemaps as you like.
  2. Find your location. Search an address or a place name, or pan and zoom to the spot — a corner of a lot, a trailhead in the Kettle Moraine, a field near Wausau.
  3. Choose Add Elevation and click. The tool reads the elevation model at that point.
  4. Read the result. The elevation appears in feet, with the coordinates so you can confirm you clicked the right spot.

Click again to read another point and compare elevations across a site.

Check the elevation anywhere in Wisconsin

Click any point and get the ground elevation in feet above sea level, from USGS 3DEP lidar.

Add ElevationOne point, one clickElevation profileThe ground along a whole line

Understanding the number

The elevation is the height of the ground above the NAVD 88 vertical datum, the national reference for heights in the United States, shown in feet. Zero is approximately mean sea level; a reading of 250 ft means the ground there is about 250 ft above that reference.

It describes the bare ground, not the roof of a building or the top of a tree: lidar separates ground returns from everything above them, and the 3DEP model keeps the ground. That is what planners, builders and engineers need. For the height of what stands on the ground, use the Object Heights tool.

Common uses

Building permits and planning

Elevation is part of many site questions a county asks about. A quick reading gives you a reference point for early design; the county planning department decides what it needs for the permit itself.

Flood risk

Comparing your lot's elevation with the nearby water and the FEMA flood maps is a sensible first step on any low-lying property along the Wisconsin, the Mississippi, a lakeshore or a smaller river.

Comparing sites

A lot on a gentle rise behaves very differently in a winter storm from one on a river flat. Clicking a few points on each shows the difference.

Agriculture and drainage

Sampling elevations across a field finds the high ground, the natural drainage lines and the spots where water stands after rain.

School and education projects

Students can explore how elevation changes from the Lake Michigan shore inland across the glacial hills, or from the Mississippi up onto the ridges of the Driftless Area.

Elevation for building and construction

Builders, architects and project managers use elevations throughout design. Where a county has set an elevation requirement for a lot, the county planning department will tell you what it is and how it must be measured; knowing the existing ground level early tells you roughly how far the design has to go.

  • Stormwater: the fall between an inlet and an outlet decides whether a pipe drains.
  • Cut and fill: existing ground versus finished grade is the starting point of every earthwork estimate — see the Cut & Fill tool.
  • Retaining walls: the elevation at the top and bottom of a proposed wall sets its height.
  • Driveways: the elevation at the road and at the garage gives the grade. The Elevation Profile tool shows it along the whole line.

A lidar reading is not a substitute for a topographic survey by a licensed land surveyor, but it is an excellent starting point for feasibility, preliminary design and due diligence.

Accuracy: lidar versus other sources

USGS 3DEP lidar (used here). Where lidar exists, the vertical accuracy is that of the lidar project behind it, which varies by project and is not asserted by this tool.

Global elevation models used by many map apps are roughly 100 ft per cell or coarser and often record treetops, so readings can be far off on steep or forested ground.

Phone and handheld GPS altitude is derived from satellite geometry or a barometric sensor and is usually the least accurate number you have, especially in valleys and under trees.

Coverage across Wisconsin

Ground elevations come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) seamless bare-earth model, with elevations above NAVD 88. Source cells are 3.3 ft per pixel in the finest work units, with about 9.8 ft per pixel and 33 ft per pixel sources elsewhere. USGS elevation data is public domain. Lidar coverage and source dates vary across Wisconsin. Check your site against the USGS 3DEP work-unit index; an unavailable lookup means coverage is unknown. Where a point falls outside every lidar work unit, the result shows the coarser resolution. Check any address on the lidar coverage page to see which project flew it and when. More from the USGS 3D Elevation Program and Wisconsin elevation resources.

Data source

  • Source: USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) seamless bare-earth DEM
  • Resolution: 3.3 ft per pixel where lidar exists, about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere
  • Vertical datum: NAVD 88, shown in feet
  • License: U.S. Government work, public domain

Frequently asked questions

What is the elevation where I am?

Open Wisconsin Elevation Tools, search your address or zoom to where you are, choose Add Elevation and click the map at your position. The tool returns the ground elevation in feet from the USGS 3DEP elevation model, which is usually far more reliable than the altitude your phone reports.

How accurate is the elevation lookup?

Accuracy depends on the source project, its date and how well ground was measured; this site does not assign one accuracy figure to all Wisconsin. Source cells range from 3.3 ft per pixel in the finest work units to about 9.8 ft per pixel or 33 ft per pixel in coarser sources. Every download reports the share outside the finest lidar work units, or says coverage is unknown if the index cannot be reached. Bare-earth elevations exclude buildings and tree canopy and do not replace a surveyed elevation for legal or engineering decisions.

Can I use the elevation for a building permit application?

It is a good reference for preliminary design and for understanding a site before you talk to the county. Where a specific elevation matters to a building permit — a flood elevation, a finished floor level, a height limit — your county planning department will say how it must be established, and that is often a survey by a licensed land surveyor. Check with your county.

Does it work everywhere in Wisconsin?

Yes. Lidar coverage and source dates vary across Wisconsin. Check your site against the USGS 3DEP work-unit index; an unavailable lookup means coverage is unknown. Where no lidar work unit exists, the USGS 3DEP seamless model falls back to coarser 1/3 arc-second data, and the tool shows the source resolution with every reading.

What does the elevation number mean?

It is the height of the bare ground above the NAVD 88 vertical datum, the US reference for “above sea level”, shown in feet. It describes the ground surface, not the top of a building or a tree.

Can I look up elevation for many points at once?

The map reads one point per click. For many points, upload a CSV of coordinates, or a GPX, KML or GeoJSON file, to Elevate a File and download it with an elevation added to every point.

Data sources and further reading

Point lookups read the same public USGS elevation model you can download yourself. These are the sources.

Primary sources

  • USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) seamless DEM — The bare-earth source for terrain tiles, contours, profiles, statistics, downloads and elevation added to files. Source resolution varies: 3.3 ft per pixel in the finest work units, with older lidar and coarser seamless data elsewhere. Elevations are above NAVD 88. Public domain. Selecting a fine output grid cannot create detail missing from the source.
  • Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office elevation and lidar resources — A directory of Wisconsin elevation and lidar resources. This site uses the USGS 3DEP index for work-unit coverage and available project metadata; it does not infer an acquisition date or accuracy for all Wisconsin from one project.
  • Brown County regional lidar digital surface model — Optional surface data for Brown County only, including roofs and tree canopy as recorded by that source. Sunlight, Viewshed and Sightline use bare-earth fallback outside usable surface coverage; Object Heights has no supported result without surface data. The surface and 3DEP ground model can have different source dates and processing. Credit: Brown County, Wisconsin.
  • Wisconsin Statewide Parcel Map Initiative — Parcel boundaries aggregated from local governments by the Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office and Wisconsin Land Information Program. The Property tool queries the public statewide service. Local gaps, outdated boundaries and missing identifiers can occur; no parcel found is not proof that land is unowned. Parcel maps are not legal surveys.
  • USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — Wisconsin place names for search, including towns, peaks, lakes, streams and other named features.
  • Basemaps — USGS Topo and Esri World Imagery — USGS Topo, shaded relief rendered from 3DEP, and Esri World Imagery (Imagery: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community) provide map context. The aerial basemap is display-only. Downloadable aerial photos come from public-domain USGS NAIP imagery.

Search, basemaps and terms

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