Geo-Surface USA Edition

Free LiDAR Elevation Viewer & Terrain Mapping Tool for the US

Instantly explore America’s topography with our free online elevation map. Simply click anywhere in the United States to view precise elevation data—up to 1–2 m resolution in most regions, with complete coverage of the entire contiguous States.

Build High-Definition Terrain Overlays: Click Build Elevation Map, draw your area of interest, and generate a stunning 3D-style terrain image.
Flexible Area Sizes: Map anything from a single quarter-section to vast landscapes. Smaller areas reveal subtle elevation changes and terrain details; larger areas provide broad, interactive overviews.

Start your elevation analysis now—no signup required. Harness America’s best free LiDAR elevation viewer or go Pro to uncover every ridge, depression, and flow route in seconds. Runs on all devices, but works best on bigger screens!

Want More? Go Pro Canada Edition

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Looking for More Features? Upgrade to Geo-Surface Professional

Geo-Surface Pro is built for power users who need more than just elevation.

It adds advanced drainage mapping layers, full drainage design tools, and support for importing and exporting data and map files—all in the same easy-to-use web browser interface as the free version.

You get features that normally cost thousands in desktop software—for just $50/month or $499/year per region (currently available regions are US and Canada).

Map Fields or Entire Regions—Up to 1 Million Acres at a Time

Generate Advanced Drainage Layers, Elevation Profiles, and Design Drainage Systems for Any Land Area—Big or Small

Wherever LiDAR elevation coverage is available (that's virtually all of the U.S. and expanding areas of Canada), simply draw around a field, property, or custom area of interest to create multiple high-resolution drainage mapping layers in under 2 minutes.

🚀 Now supporting areas up to one million acres at a time!
Map massive regions in a single request. Capture major flow routes, significant slopes, key depression zones, and general wetness potential areas over massive areas all in your web browser with a few clicks. Export generated layers for further analysis in GIS software.

For field-level mapping (quarter sections, sections, or custom-sized fields), Geo-Surface delivers highly detailed, high-resolution outputs—showing flow paths, depressions, slope variations, and wetness potential down to partial-acre precision.

Whether you're mapping 80 acres or 800,000, Geo-Surface scales to your needs—giving you the critical terrain insights to plan projects, manage drainage and water, and identify key terrain and relief features like never before.

Get Started with Pro Today

Surface Drainage Design Targeting depressions and highest value wetness potential areas

Identifying major flow routes, depressions, wetness prone areas of Des Moines, Iowa

Half section flow routes show optimum drain paths to fix depressions

Creating a Tile Drainage Design with Connection Validation

80,000 acre project region with terrain, flow, depressions, and cross section profile

Wetness Potential and Depression Mapping of residential areas in Minneapolis

On-Demand Drainage Flow Mapping

At any location with LiDAR elevation coverage (that's all of the US and these areas for Canada), drawing around a field or land area AOI allows you to automatically generate multiple advanced drainage mapping layers.

NOW YOU CAN MAP UP TO ONE MILLION ACRES AT A TIME!

HD Flow is a high-resolution flow mapping layer that shows you exactly how water moves over the land. This is your secret weapon for effective drainage planning! Adjusting the slider let's you see how many acres drain to each flow route segment at the field level, easily identifying not only the best drain placement routes, but also where the most important drains are. On larger regions, you'll see major flow paths, and you can always export the computed flow in KML for deeper anaylsis in GIS software.

Field Depression Mapping

The Depressions map layer (created at the same time as HD Flow) shows you depressional areas within the field or landscape. These are sinks, or low-lying areas that have no natural drainage. Using the on-screen slider, you can adjust the view to see only deeper depressions as required, up to 30cm / ~1ft (export to your GIS software for more detailed analysis). When combined with the HD Flow map, this is often all that is required to export into grade control software like Ditch Assist™ to show you exactly where to make your drains for the most effective surface drainage - remember, whatever you see on the map you can export that view and overlay it on the map in Ditch Assist!

Slope Mask Layer

As you move the slider for the Slope Mask layer, the first areas that become transparent are the flattest parts of the field or project area. As you continue advancing, you'll be left with only the steepest slope regions highlighted. In addition to helping you identify steep areas with high erosion potentials and the best sites for grassed waterways, this layer can also be used to identify the most level sites within an area for future construction and other projects. And, like all the other generated layers, it can be exported for further anaylisis in GIS software when required.

Wetness Potential Mapping

Wetness Potential shows you the areas that are most prone to waterlogging, but not necessarily classified as depressions. When moving the slider from right to left, the first areas highlighted are likely the first that will become waterlogged based on flow and slope characteristics of the land. Wetness potential helps you identify parts of the field that may require more effective drainage, and can be particularly useful when designing tile drainage systems to help identify which areas might require tighter tile spacings.

Users are also applying wetness and depression mapping in residential areas, helping identify homes built on moisture-prone terrain—often linked to basement water issues.

Advanced Drainage Design Tools

Geo-Surface Pro delivers advanced surface and tile drainage design tools—just like high-end desktop software, but in your browser.

Draw or GPS a proposed drain route to instantly view the terrain profile. Add a best-fit or constant-grade line to simulate how your machine control will perform in the field.
See estimated start depths, cubic yards to move, and check grades at a glance. Use connection validation to ensure every lateral joins the main correctly—whether it’s tile or surface drainage.

Go to the field with a plan—not a guess.

Export What You See, Use It Where You Need

Geo-Surface Pro runs entirely in your web browser, so it works seamlessly on any device.

Design drainage systems on your PC or Mac, then open the same project on your phone or tablet in the field—where built-in geolocation helps you follow and stake out your runs with precision.

Easily save and resume drainage design projects anytime.

Need a quick reference layer? Instantly export map images showing whatever’s on your screen—including flow routes, elevation, or design lines—perfect for importing into Ditch Assist™ or other mapping tools.

Works with QGIS, ArcGIS, Google Earth & More

With Geo-Surface Pro, your data is yours to keep.

Need the LiDAR you're viewing in QGIS or ArcGIS? Just one click and it’s downloaded to your hard drive. Export flow routes as KML files—ready for use in any GIS software or for easy viewing in Google Earth or Google Earth Pro. Want to import your depressions layer into QGIS? No problem, just save it to your hard drive! Likewise with the slope and wetness potential layers you generate. It's your data, you own it!

And we’re constantly expanding what you can generate and export, with new layers and features added regularly.

From Flow Mapping to Full Design and Data Export—It’s All in Pro

$50/month or $499/year

Get Started with Pro Today

🧭 Geo-Surface USA: Free LiDAR Elevation Viewer & Terrain Mapping Tool for Any Field, Farm, or Property

Explore elevation across the contiguous United States instantly—no signup, no downloads, and no special software needed.
Geo-Surface USA lets you click anywhere in the U.S. to instantly view precise, high-resolution LiDAR elevation data. Powered by the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), it’s the easiest way to map and analyze terrain for agriculture, land development, drainage planning, conservation, and more.

Whether you’re working with farms, fields, residential developments, municipal projects, or rural land, Geo-Surface USA provides fast, free access to elevation mapping tools designed for real-world use.

📍 Instantly See U.S. Elevation Data — Field, Farm, or Region

With a simple click, you can view detailed elevation information at any point across the lower 48 states. Instantly check:

High points and low spots
General slope and topography
Drainage concerns
Landform changes that impact farming, building, or water management

It’s the fastest and easiest way to access farm elevation data, property elevations, and terrain mapping without needing surveys, RTK equipment, or expensive desktop GIS software.

🗺️ Build High-Resolution 3D Terrain Maps for Any Size Area

In just seconds, you can draw a boundary around any field, farm, property, or region and click Build Elevation Map.
Geo-Surface USA will automatically generate a high-definition, colorized 3D terrain overlay based on LiDAR data—allowing you to clearly visualize:

Slopes and grade changes
Natural drainage patterns
Depression zones and ponding risks
Topographic details critical for farming, construction, or land management

You can map a single field or up to one million acres at a time. For smaller fields, you’ll get high-resolution terrain data down to partial-acre details. For larger regions, Geo-Surface automatically optimizes resolution to still capture all major flow routes, slope trends, and terrain variations.

🌐 100% Browser-Based — Access U.S. Elevation Data from Any Device

Geo-Surface USA runs entirely online in your web browser. No software downloads. No GIS expertise needed.
Whether you’re in the office on a laptop or in the field with a tablet or phone, you can explore and export American elevation data instantly.

✅ Click-to-view high-resolution U.S. LiDAR elevation
✅ Create and export 3D-enhanced elevation overlays
✅ Measure fields and land areas in acres
✅ Export high-quality terrain map snapshots for reports and reference
✅ Access from desktop, tablet, or mobile—anywhere, anytime

💡 Need More? Unlock the Power of Geo-Surface Pro

While Geo-Surface USA’s free viewer gives you powerful elevation access, Geo-Surface Pro takes things even further with:

💧 Automatic water flow route mapping
🌀 Detailed depression and wetness potential analysis
📈 Slope visualization across any land area
📐 Advanced tools for drainage system design and validation
📤 Full export options: KML flow maps, elevation overlays, GeoTIFF downloads, and more

Whether you’re designing surface drainage, targeted tile layouts, or simply analyzing where water naturally moves across your land, Geo-Surface Pro delivers professional-grade tools—without the steep learning curve or high costs of traditional desktop GIS software.

👉 Explore Pro Features Now

🎯 Who Uses Geo-Surface USA?

Farmers planning field drainage and water management
Agronomists and consultants creating farm elevation maps
Landowners checking terrain for development or improvement
Conservation teams analyzing runoff, wetlands, and drainage basins
Civil engineers and planners studying topography for projects
Anyone needing fast, free access to U.S. elevation data with zero hassle

🔍 Try the Free U.S. Elevation Viewer Now

Start exploring your land’s elevation in just seconds.
No signup. No software installs. No complicated GIS tools. Just free, powerful, LiDAR-based elevation mapping for the United States.

👉 Free Geo-Surface USA Viewer

Free LiDAR Elevation Viewer USA
Click to View Elevation USA
US Elevation Mapping Tool
High-Resolution Terrain Mapping
Free Farm Elevation Maps USA
Generate Drainage Maps Online
3D Elevation Program (3DEP) Elevation Viewer

Disclaimer and License

This tool is provided solely for informational and educational purposes and does not imply any license, right, or permission to build, operate, or maintain water control works or any other engineering installations. It is not a substitute for professional judgment, legal counsel, licensed land surveying, or properly qualified geospatial engineering services. The developer makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, or reliability of any data, results, or information produced by this tool.

By accessing and using this tool, you acknowledge and agree that:

You assume full responsibility for any decisions, actions, or outcomes arising from its use. This includes verifying compliance with all applicable local, regional, or national laws, regulations, and permitting requirements.
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You will consult with licensed professionals, such as qualified surveyors, engineers, and legal advisors, for site-specific guidance, and will not rely on the tool as definitive or authoritative.
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License Terms

This tool and its associated data, code, and materials (the “Licensed Materials”) are licensed for use only in accordance with the terms of the license purchased by the user. Different license types may carry specific restrictions regarding usage, number of authorized users, permitted applications, and geographic scope of use. You must at all times remain in full compliance with the terms of the license that you have purchased. Unauthorized use, sharing, or distribution beyond the scope defined in your purchased license is strictly prohibited.

© 2025 GIS4Ag. All rights reserved. Any copying, modification, reverse engineering, redistribution, or use not explicitly authorized by the purchased license is strictly prohibited. Violations may result in immediate termination of the license and potential legal action.

Governing Law & Severability

This Disclaimer and any disputes arising from the use of this tool shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction of Manitoba. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that jurisdiction for the resolution of any disputes.

If any portion of this Disclaimer is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Last Updated: April 2025