Land buyers and farmers
See slope and drainage over the aerial photo of a parcel before visiting. The land contour map guide explains how to read it.
Contour lines ready for Google Earth
These are the contours the KML files hold, rendered flat by the tool's own code at the settings shown. Open one to load it, then download the KML and drape it over Google Earth.
How to get contour lines into Google Earth
- Choose the area. Search the place, draw a rectangle or polygon, or import the KML boundary you already drew in Google Earth (right-click the polygon, choose Save Place As and pick KML rather than KMZ as the type). Lines are clipped to your boundary.
- Pick the interval. For a farm or building site in the US, 1 or 2 m (or 5 ft); for hiking terrain, 10 or 20 m. The table below has more.
- Pick a color. Orange or yellow lines show best over aerial photos; this page starts with orange at 1.5 px.
- Download the KML. Free, one folder of lines clamped to the ground. For folders by elevation, colors, labels and a legend, download the Pro KMZ.
- Open it in Google Earth. Double-click the file with Google Earth Pro installed, or import it into a project in Google Earth on the web. The view flies to your area.
KML and KMZ in Google Earth
KML is the XML format Google Earth reads natively, standardized by the Open Geospatial Consortium as OGC 07-147r2. A KMZ is a KML zipped together with the images it uses. Both files from this tool hold real LineStrings in WGS84 longitude and latitude, the coordinate system Google Earth uses, so no reprojection or import settings are needed.
| KML, free | KMZ, Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | One folder with every line | One folder per elevation, highest first |
| Color | Your line color | Your line color, or colored by elevation |
| Index lines | In the same folder | Wider, with a label at each index line |
| Legend | None | Screen overlay legend (Google Earth Pro) |
| Opening view | Your area | Your area, tilted 40° to show the relief |
| Altitude | Clamped to the ground; each vertex also stores the line's elevation in meters | |
| Credit | Data credit and disclaimer in the document description | |
Opening the file in Google Earth Pro
Double-click the .kml or .kmz, or choose File, Open. The contours land in Temporary Places in the sidebar; drag them into My Places to keep them. Click a line to see its elevation. To check the overlay against Google's own terrain, hover over a contour and read the elevation in the status bar at the bottom of the window. In the line's Properties, the Altitude tab switches between Clamped to ground and Absolute; Absolute floats each line at its stored height, which is a neat way to see where the two terrain models disagree.
Opening the file in Google Earth on the web
Google Earth on the web imports KML and KMZ into a project: open Projects, choose New project, then Import KML file from computer. Projects are kept in your Google account, so you can reopen the contours on another computer. Large files with thousands of lines take a few seconds to draw; for a big area, a larger interval keeps the overlay fast.
Contours and Google Earth's own terrain
Google Earth draws its 3D surface from its own elevation sources, while these contours come from Terrain Tiles (USGS 3DEP in the US, SRTM and others elsewhere) or USGS lidar. Lines are clamped to the ground, so they always follow the surface you see, but where Google's model differs from the source data a line can sit a few meters uphill or downhill of the height it is labeled with. On a farm this rarely matters; on a cliff it shows. For a reading you can rely on, use the numbers in the file, and remember: contours are generated from public elevation data and are not a substitute for a field survey or a licensed land survey.
Who puts contour lines in Google Earth
Hunters, hikers and backcountry skiers
Plan a route on the 3D terrain with contour lines that show the real steepness of each slope.
Real estate and site scouting
Share one KMZ with clients that shows building sites, slopes and access in a viewer everyone already has.
Teachers and students
Drape contours over a familiar landscape in 3D to show how flat lines describe hills and valleys.
How to choose a contour interval
Google Earth draws every line you give it, so pick an interval that keeps 25 to 50 levels over your area; for a single parcel, 1 or 2 m (2 or 5 ft) is usually right. Find your area and relief below.
| Area you select | Terrain | Relief | Interval, m | Interval, ft | Data that supports it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House lot or building site, under 0.1 km² (25 acres) | Gentle to hillside | 5–25 m | 0.5 | 1–2 | 3DEP 1 m lidar (Pro, US) for survey-grade lines; free data shows the shape |
| Small farm or acreage, 0.1–2 km² | Rolling | 20–100 m | 0.5–2 | 2–10 | 3DEP 1 m lidar (Pro, US) for survey-grade lines; free data shows the shape |
| Farm, ranch or park, 2–10 km² | Hilly | 100–300 m | 2–10 | 10–20 | 3DEP 1 m lidar (Pro, US) for survey-grade lines; free data shows the shape |
| Town or valley, 10–50 km² | Hills to foothills | 300–800 m | 10–20 | 20–80 | Free data in the US; elsewhere use 20 m or more |
| Mountain area, 50–100 km² (free limit) | Mountains | 800–2,000 m | 20–50 | 80–200 | Free data, worldwide |
| Range or region, 100–2,000 km² (Pro) | High mountains | 1,500–4,000 m | 50–100 | 100–500 | Free data, worldwide |
Relief is the highest minus the lowest elevation in your selection (the tool shows both under Map data). Interval = relief ÷ 50, rounded up to 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100 or 200 m (1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 50, 80, 100, 200, 250 or 500 ft). The last column applies the 1947 National Map Accuracy Standard, interval ≥ 3.29 × the data's vertical RMSE: about 0.3 m for lidar, 5.1 m for the US 10 m data and 18 m for SRTM.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google Earth have contour lines built in?
No. Google Earth Pro and Google Earth on the web show terrain in 3D and the elevation under your cursor, but neither draws contour lines. To see them, make the lines here and open the KML or KMZ in Google Earth as an overlay.
How do I add contour lines to Google Earth Pro?
Download the KML, then double-click it or use File, Open in Google Earth Pro. The lines appear under Temporary Places and the view flies to your area. Drag the item into My Places if you want Google Earth to keep it after you close the program.
How do I add contour lines to Google Earth on the web?
Open Google Earth in Chrome or another supported browser, go to Projects, choose New project and then Import KML file from computer, and pick the KML or KMZ you downloaded. The legend overlay of the Pro KMZ is designed for Google Earth Pro and may not show on the web.
Why are the lines not exactly on the Google Earth terrain?
The contours come from public elevation data, and Google Earth drapes them over its own terrain model. Where the two models differ, a line can sit a little uphill or downhill of where Google Earth puts that height. The lines are clamped to the ground, so they always follow the surface you see, and each one also stores its elevation as the coordinate altitude.
Can I show only the index contours?
In the Pro KMZ every elevation is its own folder, so you can untick the folders you do not need. With the free KML, download a second file with the interval set to your index spacing, for example 50 m instead of 10 m, and switch between the two files in the Places panel.
Should I use KML or KMZ?
Use the free KML for a quick overlay in one color with every line in one folder. Use the Pro KMZ when you want to read the map in Google Earth: a folder per elevation, colors by height, wider labeled index lines and a legend, all zipped into one file.
More contour tools and guides
Contour map generatorAny area and interval, with free PNG, GeoJSON, SVG and KML downloads.Topographic map generatorElevation tints, labeled index lines and print sheets with a scale bar.Contour map SVGVector contours for posters, laser cutting, Figma and Illustrator.Contour map DXFLayered DXF with Z values for AutoCAD, Civil 3D, SketchUp and QGIS.Elevation contour map guideWhere the elevation data comes from, its accuracy and how to pick an interval.Land contour map guideRead slope, ridges, valleys and drainage on a property or farm.