Elevation Finder for Canada (MRDEM, 30m)
Free elevation finder built on MRDEM, Natural Resources Canada's own 30-metre national elevation model, three times sharper than the worldwide 90m data this site's general elevation tool uses.
Type a Canadian postal code or address, tap the map, or use your current location to check elevation anywhere in Canada. Open water reads honestly as water, never a fabricated number, and every reading states plainly that it is the average of a 30-metre ground cell, not a survey point. Everything loads as map tiles decoded on your device: no account, no external geocoder for postal codes or addresses.
How this compares to the general elevation finder
MapTools already has a worldwide Elevation Finder built on Copernicus GLO-90, a global dataset at 90-metre resolution. This tool exists because Canada has its own national elevation model that does better than that: MRDEM, produced by Natural Resources Canada at 30-metre resolution, three times sharper than the global data. If you are checking elevation anywhere in Canada, this is the more precise choice.
Why elevation matters
Elevation shapes flood risk on low-lying property, frost drainage for growers, mobile and radio reception, how steep a climb really is, and why two addresses a few streets apart can carry different drainage or view characteristics. Canada's terrain runs from the flat prairies to the Rockies to Arctic tundra and thousands of kilometres of coastline and inland waterway, so a single number rarely tells the whole story on its own, but it is the starting fact underneath flood studies, drainage plans, and site assessments alike.
How to use this elevation finder
Type a Canadian postal code or a full address for an instant reading, resolved locally against this site's own Canadian address data, no external geocoder involved. Tap anywhere on the map to fetch that spot's elevation tile and decode it on your device, or use the Use My Location button to do the same for wherever you are standing. Switch the m/ft toggle above the result to change units, and use Copy Link to share the exact point you checked; the location is encoded in the page's URL.
Who uses this tool?
Check how high a lot sits before you buy or sign, at a sharper resolution than a worldwide dataset gives.
Understand why elevation shows up in flood maps and premium calculations, and see your own number.
Compare climbs, check summit heights, and settle arguments about whose hill is steeper.
Frost drains downhill; elevation helps explain why one field burns and another doesn't.
Fast site checks for elevation, drainage falls, and datum sanity checks, at Canada's own national resolution.
Find the highest point in your area, or check how far above the nearest lake or river you really are.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the site's other elevation finder?
This tool uses MRDEM, Natural Resources Canada's own 30-metre national elevation model. Our general Elevation Finder uses Copernicus GLO-90, a worldwide dataset at 90-metre resolution. 30m is three times sharper than 90m, and MRDEM is Canada's own national model rather than a global compromise, so this tool gives a more precise reading anywhere in Canada.
How accurate are these elevation readings?
MRDEM's native grid is 30 metres, so every reading is the average elevation across a 30m by 30m ground cell, not a surveyed point measurement. On flat and rolling ground that average is typically close to the true local elevation. On steep terrain a 30m cell can blend a real range of heights into one number, so treat mountain and canyon readings as approximate. For legal, engineering, or survey purposes, use a licensed surveyor.
How old is the underlying elevation data?
MRDEM is built from lidar surveys collected between 2006 and 2023, covering about 93% of the Canadian population, with Copernicus satellite data from 2011-2015 filling the remaining areas. A reading reflects the ground as it was surveyed at some point across nearly two decades, not a single fixed date - a quarry, a new subdivision, or a landfill built or changed since a location's survey may not show up in the number you see. MRDEM does not publish which specific year's survey applies to a given point, so there is no way to look up the exact vintage for one location from this tool or from NRCan's own data.
Why does the tool say a location is open water instead of giving a number?
MRDEM's raw data does not flag lakes, rivers, or the ocean as missing: it models open water as a real, near-zero elevation value (about 0.1m), which would make Hudson Bay's centre read as 0m if used directly. This tool applies a separate water mask, built from national lake and river boundaries plus marine boundary data, and refuses to report an elevation for any point the mask confirms is open water rather than showing that fabricated near-zero number.
Are there any known gaps in the water detection?
One confirmed case: Pangnirtung Fjord on Baffin Island, where the water mask over-includes a strip of real land near the fjord, up to roughly a kilometre in from the shoreline, so a real address there can incorrectly show as open water. This was found and measured by checking nine similar fjord and inlet communities nationally; eight came back accurate and Pangnirtung is currently the only known exception. This is the safer of two possible errors, a false no-data refusal on real land rather than an invented elevation for real water, and is being disclosed here rather than left undocumented.
Which areas are covered?
MRDEM's national coverage reaches every Canadian province and territory, including Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost permanently inhabited place on Earth. A location outside this tool's covered area (for example, far out to sea beyond Canada's practical bounds) is reported as outside coverage, distinct from an open-water result.
Is this free, and where does the data come from?
Yes, completely free, with no account required. Elevation data is MRDEM (Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model), Natural Resources Canada, licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada, processed into map tiles we host ourselves. Postal code and address lookups use this site's own local Canadian address data, not an external geocoding service.
Related Tools
More Canadian mapping tools:
- Postal Code and Address Mapper - map Canadian postal codes and addresses
- Postal Code Radius Search - find every postal code within a set distance
- Nearest Postal Codes - find the nearest postal codes to any location
- Distance Between Postal Codes - straight-line distance between two postal codes
- Area Calculator - measure land area in hectares or acres by drawing on a map
- Dark Sky Finder - find dark sky sites across Canada
- Route Optimizer - optimize multi-stop delivery routes across Canada
- Sun Direction Map - see sunrise and sunset direction on a map of Canada