Google has just announced the addition of topographic contour lines to their Terrain view in Google Maps. It’s for the entire world, so I suspect they’re using SRTM 90-meter resolution data; not ideal, but not bad, either. Here’s Popocatepetl, just SE of Ciudad de Mexico:

You have to zoom in to at least the 1-mile / 2 km range for the contours to appear.
Other posts in the Google Maps Tools series
- Coordinate Data From Google Maps
- Reverse Address Geocoding With Google Maps
- Converting Google Maps Search Results To GPX
- Coordinate, Elevation, Distance And More In Google Maps
- Google Maps "My Maps" Features
- Measuring Elevation, Distance And Area In Google Maps
- Creating GPS Routes In Google Maps
- Thematic Polygon Shapefile Display In Google Maps
- Using The Google Maps Interface To Display General Maps And Images
- Heat Mapping In Google Maps
- Elevation Profile In Google Maps
- Embed Google Maps "My Maps" On Your Web Page
- Customizing Google Maps Markers
- Two Fun Cartographic Google Maps Tools
- Simple Guide To Embedding Google Maps "My Maps" On Your Own Webpage
- Another Google Maps Geocoder/Reverse Geocoder
- Drawing Lines Between Points In Google Maps, Straight And Great Circle
- Convert A Google Maps Point To Multiple Text Geographic Formats
- Meet Your Friends Halfway
- Plotting Swivel Data In Google Maps
- Meet Your Friends Halfway II
- Geographic Midpoint Calculator
- GIS-Like Functionality In Google Maps With ZeeMaps
- Creating GPS Waypoints Online From The USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
- MapMyRide.com
- Exporting KML Data From Google Maps MyMaps To A GPS
- Advanced Tool For Embedding Google Maps MyMaps On Your Website
- Draw/Label On Google Maps, And Generate GPX/KML/Embeddable Maps
- Another Way To Create Embeddable Google Maps With KML Data
- Documenting A Journey With Maptales
- Plot A Coordinate Position On Different Map Pages
- Worldwide Reverse Geocoding With Google Maps
- Google Maps Shaded Relief Site Updates
- Digipoint 2: Export Of Google Maps Points In Multiple Formats, And Elevation Data
- Google Maps Line Tool Now Supports Distance Measurement
- Geographically-Linked Video With VeoGeo
- Recent Google Maps Tools
- Google Maps Mapplets From Zonums Software
- Maximize Google Maps With Google Maps Max
- Mapping Zip And Area Code Boundaries, And More
- Altitudes And Terrain Profiles In Google Maps
- “Friendly” URLs To Address Maps
- Quick Zip Code Information
- Simple Online Form For Creating An Embeddable Google Map
- Embed Synchronized Google/Microsoft Virtual Earth Maps On Your Website/Blog
- Worldwide Contour Lines In Google Maps’ Terrain View
- Plot Gazetteer Features In A Google Maps Interface
- Antipodes Map


thank’s for all. software free.
thanks for the info but i need to know if you are sure that this is really SRTM 90-meter resolution data;
if so do u know any other tool can give me more accurate data
I don’t know this for sure, but the SRTM-90 dataset is the only one that covers the entire world. You can always download the SRTM-90 data for yourself, and convert it to contours (search this blog for posts that describe how to do this).
Do you know if it is possible to export the contour line layer to a CAD application?
I need to a school work… Nothing big, but enough to work on.
From what I just saw, I guess the contour lines are drawn every 20 meters. It’s not perfect but I guess I can work on that.
Can anyone help me?
No, you can’t export the countours. You’d have to get the DEM data used to create the contours, and then generate DXF files from that data. It can be done – search this site for posts on creating shapefile contours from DEM data, and then converting the shapefiles into DXF.