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Elevation API | Rijwind docs

Elevation

Get the ground elevation (metres above sea level) for a set of points, or build an elevation profile along a route — for climb totals, gradient charts, and "how much climbing is in this ride?".

POST /elevation/v1 returns one elevation per input coordinate. There are two input modes — use exactly one.

Cost: 1 unit per call.

Points

Pass up to 512 discrete coordinates. You get one elevation back per point, in the same order.

Code
curl -X POST https://api.rijwind.com/elevation/v1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rw_live_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "points": [ { "lat": 50.7536, "lon": 6.0208 }, { "lat": 52.3730, "lon": 4.8910 } ] }'

Code
{
  "elevations": [
    { "lat": 50.7536, "lon": 6.0208, "elevation": 322.4 },
    { "lat": 52.373, "lon": 4.891, "elevation": 2 }
  ]
}

elevation is null where there's no coverage (e.g. open ocean).

A route — encodedPolyline

For a whole route or GPS track, send the geometry as a single encoded polyline (precision 6 — the same shape the routing endpoints return) and the API samples it at samples evenly-spaced points along the line. Send one compact polyline instead of thousands of track points and get a clean, fixed-size profile back.

Code
curl -X POST https://api.rijwind.com/elevation/v1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rw_live_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "encodedPolyline": "_p~iF~ps|U_ulLnnqC", "samples": 256 }'

samples defaults to 256 and is capped at 1000.

With the SDK

Code
import { createClient } from "@rijwind/sdk/client";

const client = createClient({ apiKey: "rw_live_…" });

// Points
const { data } = await client.elevation({
  points: [{ lat: 50.7536, lon: 6.0208 }],
});

// Or a route profile straight from a directions result
const route = await client.route({ locations: [a, b], costing: "bicycle" });
const shape = route.data!.trip.legs[0].shape;
const profile = await client.elevation({ encodedPolyline: shape, samples: 200 });

Elevations come from a global elevation model. Along a route, the total ascent is more meaningful than any single point's exact value.

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Looking to show shaded relief or 3D terrain on a map? That's part of the basemap, not this API.