Where is the best way to load accurate lat / long / alt data?

Question

I am sure this is publicly available somewhere, but my google-fu failed. What I would like to do is download the most accurate lat / long / alt data available to the whole world. This may exclude oceanic areas. Also, I don't need addresses. Basically what I need: given lat / long, what is alt? There is currently no elevation data in Google Maps, and I would prefer not to use publicly available web services since there is no SLA.

The best I managed to find was: http://www.geonames.org/export/ ... In fact, they are also a great example of why I cannot use public web services for these searches: http: // geonames. wordpress.com/2009/01/25/what-to-do-against-ddos-effects/

Thanks in advance!!!!

Answer 1

You can download the Elevation digital model for the USA at http://seamless.usgs.gov/

I believe that he also has international data, but this is less accurate.

Answer 2

I don’t know where to find it at present, but the term you should search on Google is the “Digital Altitude Model”.

Answer 3

:

• API wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php
• DBpedia http://wiki.dbpedia.org/Downloads32#geographiccoordinates
• freebase http://www.freebase.com/view/location/location + API- freebase