Topo-grapher makes accurate site topography accessible to architects, BIM managers, and landscape architects — no GIS software, no surveyor, no coordinate-system wrangling. Draw your site on a map and download terrain ready for Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, or ArchiCAD.
Why it exists
Getting real site terrain into design software has always been disproportionately painful: the data lives in GIS formats, behind portals, in coordinate systems that don't match your model. Most architects either pay for a survey, fight with GIS tools, or model the ground by eye. Topo-grapher exists to collapse that into a few clicks — pulling the best open government elevation data for your location and converting it straight into the format your software wants.
Hi! So if you're here you are looking for terrain data. My name is Aki and I've been working in the construction Industry since 18, I later on went to university to become an Architectural Technologist in the UK, and furthermore today I'm a practising Construction Architect(yes i specialise in actual construction details). With me and my friends experiencing the same type of time waisting problems in this industry, one of the biggest problems was drawing terrain in 3D. Anyone who has done this before knows this can be a real painpoint especially with real surveying data and limited time. So I went on a journey to actually make this data more available, and do what other platforms arent doing. That is making the data available in a way that you can both check its elevation, have a Georeference in real gps coordinates and for you to maniupulate the data and adjust it to your building, your construction and make sure that if you have your surveying data you can fix minor chenges in the landscape. This is because often roads are lowered or made higher because of future road or neighbourhood plans. This way the specialists (you!) can adjust the land and make sure it both correct but also save yourself massive amounts of time but reducing the drawing of landscape and rather use your tiem to design and make your project become realisty! This way everyone wins and you get to spend more time designing. If you need datasets, or are experiencing any problems with my site please email me! I answer everything.
Who builds it
Topo-grapher is built and maintained by Aki, a solo founder working in AEC tooling. Every part — the elevation data pipeline, the format converters, the 3D viewer — is designed around one goal: give designers survey-grade ground without the survey-grade workflow.
I found myself repeatedly being on projects where the site had no context to the real world, the terrain was off, drainage and landmass didnt work. The whole thing didnt match real expectation of clients or contractors. So I decided to solve this painpoint for me and hopefully others, why not have the data available and rather have architects or engineers double check it. Instead of them waisting precious time to design and make landscaping, why not make them just check it against their surveying data and refine it instead of drawing it from scratch. This was my motivation hope it can help you too!.
What it does
Topo-grapher sources high-resolution open elevation data — down to 0.4m in Denmark and 1m across much of Europe and the US — and exports it as XYZ CSV, IFC, and DXF. It also adds building footprints and a site reference for orientation. It runs entirely in the browser, with a free tier that needs no account.
Get in touch
Questions, feature requests, or coverage you'd like added? Email aki@topo-grapher.com.