TopoDesignerTerrain preflight

Data source attributions

Know which external sources inform each terrain view.

Source review: June 11, 2026

TopoDesigner computes derived terrain layers locally in your browser after source bytes arrive. External imagery, terrain and lookup sources retain their own notices and terms.

Source roles are different

Imagery provides visual map context. Elevation sources provide the grid used for terrain calculations. Location search and the point-elevation preview help orient the map, but they do not create the bounded terrain result. The workspace identifies the selected elevation source, model type and working-cell size for each analysis.

Esri World Imagery

The online imagery background is Powered by Esri. Source: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community.

USGS 3DEP

U.S. analysis areas request a bounded 3DEP bare-earth elevation window first when coverage is available. 3DEP data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

NSW Spatial Services prepared example

© Department of Customer Service 2026-06-02. © State of New South Wales (Spatial Services, a business unit of the Department of Customer Service NSW). For current information go to spatial.nsw.gov.au. Adapted farm-scale crop from Lismore-DEM-AHD_56_5m.zip; source archive extracted 2026-06-02.

Mapzen Terrain Tiles composite

The global Terrarium visual context and fallback analysis surface use the Mapzen Terrain Tiles AWS dataset. Its provider notices are:

  • ArcticDEM terrain data DEM(s) were created from DigitalGlobe, Inc., imagery and funded under National Science Foundation awards 1043681, 1559691, and 1542736.
  • Australia terrain data © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2017.
  • Austria terrain data © offene Daten Österreichs - Digitales Geländemodell (DGM) Österreich.
  • Canada terrain data contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada.
  • Europe terrain data produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union - EU-DEM layers.
  • Global ETOPO1 terrain data U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  • Mexico terrain data source: INEGI, Continental relief, 2016.
  • New Zealand terrain data Copyright 2011 Crown copyright (c) Land Information New Zealand and the New Zealand Government (All rights reserved).
  • Norway terrain data © Kartverket.
  • United Kingdom terrain data © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015. All rights reserved.
  • United States 3DEP (formerly NED) and global GMTED2010 and SRTM terrain data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Copernicus digital elevation model (DEM)

Bounded GLO-30 ranges can provide a global fallback analysis surface. It is a digital surface model and may include vegetation and structures. Adapted from Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved.

The separate GLO-90 point preview appears after location selection for orientation only; it is not expanded into a site-analysis surface. Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. Point preview via Open-Meteo.

Location search

Production can use configured ArcGIS suggestions and selected-result lookup through TopoDesigner server routes. The low-volume setup fallback uses public Nominatim only after explicit search submission. Fallback search data © OpenStreetMap contributors.