Free tool
3D map generator: terrain STL from real elevation data
Search a place, set the area and the width, download a watertight terrain STL or a 16-bit height map. Elevation comes from open data tiles.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How to use it
1Search a place
Type a mountain, town, island or park and press Enter, or type coordinates as latitude, longitude. Pick the right match from the list.
2Set the area
Choose the side of the square, from 1 to 300 km. The tool picks the zoom level that fits the area and shows the metres per pixel.
3Size the model
Set the width in millimetres, the base thickness and the vertical exaggeration. 1x is true scale; the relief height is shown live and capped at 20 mm.
4Download
Download a watertight STL for your slicer or a 16-bit PNG height map for LightBurn, Aspire or Carbide Create. Open in Studio to add lettering, holes or a base plate.
To make a 3D map of a place, search its name or type its coordinates, choose how many kilometres the square should cover, set the printed width and a vertical exaggeration, and download the STL. The tool fetches open elevation tiles for the area, stitches them into a height field, and builds a closed solid with a flat base. The same height field downloads as a 16-bit PNG for CNC relief carving and laser 3D engraving.
What the settings mean
| Setting | What it does | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| Square side | The ground distance covered by the model, 1 to 300 km | 10 to 40 km for a single mountain |
| Width | The printed size of the square | 100 to 200 mm |
| Base | Solid material under the lowest point | 2 to 4 mm |
| Vertical exaggeration | Multiplies the relief height; 1x is true scale | 1.5x to 2.5x |
| Sea level flat | Clips elevations below 0 m | On for coasts and islands |
| Detail | Samples per side of the height field | 384 |
The relief height follows from the real elevation range: height in mm equals the range in metres times the horizontal scale times the exaggeration. A 20 km square of the Alps at 120 mm has a horizontal scale of 0.006 mm per metre, so 3,000 m of relief becomes 18 mm at 1x.
Choosing the area
Small areas show detail, large areas show shape. At 5 km the tiles are at zoom 13 or 14 and a ridge line is a few samples wide. At 100 km the tool drops to zoom 9 and the model reads as a regional relief: ranges, valleys and plains. Coasts work best with Sea level flat on, which also gives the model a clean shoreline to paint.
Printing and carving tips
- Print terrain flat on the bed with the base down. No supports are needed.
- At 0.2 mm layers a 20 mm relief has 100 layers; a 0.12 mm layer height shows slopes more smoothly.
- For CNC, use the 16-bit PNG in Aspire, Carveco or Carbide Create and set the model height to the relief height the tool reports.
- For laser 3D engraving, load the PNG in LightBurn as a 3D slice image; the 16-bit range keeps gentle slopes from banding.
Other terrain generators
| Tool | Elevation data | Output | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depthue 3D Map Generator | Terrain Tiles on AWS (SRTM, 3DEP, EU-DEM, ETOPO1 and others), zoom chosen from the area | Watertight STL, 16-bit PNG, Depthue Studio relief | Free |
| Terrain2STL | SRTM3 dataset from 2000, about 90 m | STL | Not listed |
| TouchTerrain | USGS 3DEP, ALOS AW3D30, SRTM GL1, MERIT, GMTED2010, GTOPO30, ETOPO1 | OBJ or STL zipped, GeoTIFF | Free; code is GPL-3 |
| PrintPal 3D Map Generator | OSM and Terrain Tiles on AWS per its credits | 3MF, STL | Subscriber only |
Claims come from each tool's own pages as listed in the sources; where a page does not say, the table says Not listed.
Questions
Where does the elevation data come from?
From Terrain Tiles on the AWS Open Data registry, a global dataset assembled by Mapzen from public sources: SRTM and GMTED worldwide, EU-DEM in Europe, USGS 3DEP in the United States, ETOPO1 for the oceans and national datasets for Norway, the UK, Austria, Canada, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. Each tile names its source, and the tool lists the ones your area used.
How accurate is the terrain?
Tiles have 256 pixels per side at zooms 0 to 15. At zoom 15 a pixel covers about 4.8 m at the equator and 3.3 m in the Alps; at zoom 11 it is about 50 m. SRTM is specified at 16 m absolute vertical accuracy at 90 percent confidence; national datasets such as 3DEP and EU-DEM are finer. The tool shows the metres per pixel for your area so you know what detail to expect. Do not use these models for navigation.
Do I need to credit the data when I sell a print?
Yes. The attribution line under the preview names the dataset and the credit each source requires, for example SRTM and 3DEP courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey or EU-DEM produced with Copernicus data funded by the European Union. Copy it to your listing or product card. Place names come from OpenStreetMap contributors under the ODbL.
What does vertical exaggeration do?
At 1x the model is true to scale: a 20 km area printed 120 mm wide shrinks 3,000 m of relief to 18 mm. Most terrain looks flat at true scale, so 1.5x to 2.5x is common. The relief height is capped at 20 mm; the tool tells you when the cap applies.
Why is the sea flat?
ETOPO1 includes the sea floor, so a coastal area would show a deep pit where the water is. Sea level flat clips everything below 0 m so water prints as a flat plane. Turn it off to model bathymetry.
Is the STL watertight?
Yes. The surface, four walls and a flat base share every edge with exactly two triangles, so Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer and Cura accept it without repair.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Your browser fetches the elevation tiles and, when you search by name, asks OpenStreetMap for coordinates. The height field, the preview and the STL are built on your device.
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