Contour Map of Your New York Property
Use a public assessment parcel as the area for a terrain check, or draw an area where parcel selection is unavailable.
Find the correct parcel
The Property tool uses NYS GeoHub public parcels in participating counties. Search an address, zoom in and click inside the parcel. Check its identifier and outline before running an analysis. A road or rail right-of-way is not a property selection.
Read the terrain together
Contours explain the overall shape; slope highlights steep patches; aspect shows facing direction. Compare these with drainage and modeled winter sunlight. Parcel lines are assessment records, not surveyed boundaries.
Know the export boundary
The analysis can use the parcel outline. Download Data and property bundles cover the rectangle around it; the Contour Lines panel can save clipped GeoJSON and KML.
Data and accuracy
Ground elevations come from the public-domain USGS 3DEP seamless bare-earth model, above NAVD 88. Source detail varies by location. Lidar coverage and source resolution vary across New York. Check your location against the USGS 3DEP index; no statewide coverage percentage is asserted. Buildings and trees are excluded from every terrain analysis in this edition.
Accuracy depends on the source survey, its date and processing. Check the work-unit metadata for your site; this tool does not promise a vertical accuracy. Bare-earth elevations exclude buildings and tree canopy. Coarser source areas have less detail, and a fine contour interval does not create finer source data. These results are not a substitute for surveyed elevations where engineering or legal decisions depend on them.
DXF exports use New York State Plane, US survey feet (zone selected for the area). Each file records the exact zone and local origin.
Try it on your site
Map analysis is free. Downloads use a pass: US$29 for 24 hours, US$99 for 30 days or US$399 for 12 months, one-off payments with no subscription.
Data sources and further reading
Everything on this page is built on public elevation data from the USGS 3D Elevation Program and New York’s lidar program. If you want the raw data rather than a processed result, these are the places it lives.
Primary sources
- USGS 3DEP elevation service — Bare-earth elevation for the map and downloads, with 3.3 ft source cells where available and coarser detail elsewhere.
- USGS 3DEP lidar work units — Coverage footprints, collection dates, source resolution and quality levels.
- NYS GeoHub public tax parcels — Assessment parcel boundaries in participating counties. Reference data, not surveys.
Search, basemaps and terms
- USGS GNIS place names — Place search is restricted to New York.
- NYS GeoHub address geocoder — Public address search.
- USGS Topo — Topographic display basemap.
- Esri World Imagery — Display-only aerial basemap, under Esri terms. Aerial downloads use USGS NAIP instead.