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USGS Elevation API and MCP server

No authusgs-elevation

USGS point elevation context for US property and land analysis.

USGS Elevation is published by USGS National Map Elevation Point Query Service (3DEP) and covers United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories where National Map elevation data are published.

How often the publisher refreshes it is not declared, so treat the timing of any field as unknown.

Last verified . That is when these facts were last rebuilt from the ParcelOps source registry, not when USGS National Map Elevation Point Query Service (3DEP) last refreshed the data itself.

elevationterrainlandunited-states

API access

Your AI client reaches USGS Elevation through one ParcelOps MCP endpoint, so there is no separate key to hold for it and no per-source client to write. Reaching it takes no credentials of your own.

Set up USGS Elevation in Claude, ChatGPT, or CursorGet every fact on this page as JSON

Where it came from

PublisherUSGS National Map Elevation Point Query Service (3DEP)
Sourcehttps://epqs.nationalmap.gov/
API basehttps://epqs.nationalmap.gov/
Docshttps://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-accurate-are-elevations-generated-elevation-point-query-service-national-map

Freshness and coverage

FreshnessFreshness not declared
Places coveredUnited States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories where National Map elevation data are published
Time coveredNot declared
CredentialsNo credentials required

What this source cannot tell you

  • ⚠ Anything outside United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories where National Map elevation data are published. A request past that edge comes back empty rather than approximated.
  • ⚠ Which years it spans, because the covered period is not declared.
  • ⚠ How current a field is, because the refresh schedule is not declared.
  • ⚠ Anything USGS National Map Elevation Point Query Service (3DEP) does not publish. ParcelOps returns this source as it stands and never fills a blank field from a different one.
  • ⚠ Returned elevations are interpolated from elevation models and are not a surveyed elevation.

Methods (2)

A method is one call your agent can make against this source.

  • getElevation

    read

    Get elevation at a WGS84 point.

    What you must providelatitudelongitude
    Records returnedelevation
    How to get more resultsnone
    Coordinate systemEPSG:4326
    Input schema
    {
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "latitude": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -90,
      "maximum": 90
    },
    "longitude": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -180,
      "maximum": 180
    },
    "units": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "Meters",
        "Feet"
      ]
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "latitude",
    "longitude"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}
    Output schema
    {
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "kind": {
      "const": "parcelops.public-data"
    },
    "schemaVersion": {
      "const": "1.0"
    },
    "dataset": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [
        "connector",
        "method",
        "name",
        "jurisdiction"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "query": {
      "type": "object",
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "summary": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "matchedRecords": {
          "type": [
            "integer",
            "null"
          ],
          "minimum": 0
        },
        "returnedRecords": {
          "type": "integer",
          "minimum": 0
        },
        "truncated": {
          "type": "boolean"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "matchedRecords",
        "returnedRecords",
        "truncated"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "records": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "additionalProperties": true
      }
    },
    "pagination": {
      "type": [
        "object",
        "null"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "source": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [
        "name",
        "url",
        "retrievedAt"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "export": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [
        "tool",
        "connector",
        "method",
        "args",
        "recordPath",
        "formats",
        "columns",
        "suggestedFilename",
        "maximumRows"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "privacy": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": [
        "classification",
        "excludedFields"
      ],
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "caveats": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "kind",
    "schemaVersion",
    "dataset",
    "query",
    "summary",
    "records",
    "pagination",
    "source",
    "export",
    "privacy",
    "caveats"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": true
}

  • getServiceInfo

    read

    Return USGS source metadata and caveats.

    Input schema
    {
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {},
  "required": [],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Where this source is used