Global Elevation & Bathymetry Data

Last week I posted a short review of Nicolas Lambert's Elevation Scan, a clever interactive map which visualizes the relative elevation of land across the world. Nicolas has now created a very similar map which also visualizes global bathymetry data.

Press the 'play' button on the Elevation Scan (with bathymetry) map and a line moves north from the bottom of the map to the top. As the line moves a graph shows the elevation height on land along lines of latitude. Over the world's oceans and seas the graph also shows sea depths. For example on the screenshot above you can see the high elevations of the Himalayas rising up from the line of latitude running across the map. To the right of the Himalayas you can also see the huge depths of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

If you press 'pause' you can manually explore the map and the relative elevation or bathymetry of locations around the world by moving the slide button left and right. The map also includes buttons which allow you to turn the elevation or bathymetry data on or off on the map.