11 replies to this topic

[rudy]

(Really, there should be a Data or Data Sources category for this forum . . . .)

Hi All -

we are looking to put together a mountain database for use in a map of the world and possibly some other more detailed Canadian maps. I am looking to get a listing of prominent mountain peaks with their name, elevation and geographic coordinates. The problem is that I can't seem to find a comprehensive and consistent listing. Viewfinderpanoramas.org has a listing of prominent peaks but it is broken up by area and the listings are sometimes inconsistent and incomplete. Peakware provides a kml file and has separate listings showing elevation and coordinates for each mountain but not altogether in one list.

Anyone know of anything else? Or am I going to have to raid an old atlas gazetteer?

Thanks in advance!

[Nick H]

For England, Scotland and Wales there is a database of hills, see hillcsv.zip at:

http://www.biber.fsn.../downloads.html

We don't have much by way of mountains in these islands, but you could sort the data on the elevation field and delete anything that wasn't high enough to qualify as a mountain. Quite a lot of them, I would imagine .

Regards, N.

[frax]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is in the Collins Bartholomew database. Have you checked out the NGA gazeteer, and also wikipedia?

[rudy]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is in the Collins Bartholomew database. Have you checked out the NGA gazeteer, and also wikipedia?

Wikipedia has a listing of the top 100 peaks, with elevation and coordinates - all in Asia. The NGA gazetteer has a listing of mountains for each country as part of their database but each country is listed separately and there are no elevation values for the peaks.

Methinks it will take some time to cobble together listings from various places into one handy file . . . .

[ELeFevre]

(Really, there should be a Data or Data Sources category for this forum . . . .)

Hi All -

we are looking to put together a mountain database for use in a map of the world and possibly some other more detailed Canadian maps. I am looking to get a listing of prominent mountain peaks with their name, elevation and geographic coordinates. The problem is that I can't seem to find a comprehensive and consistent listing. Viewfinderpanoramas.org has a listing of prominent peaks but it is broken up by area and the listings are sometimes inconsistent and incomplete. Peakware provides a kml file and has separate listings showing elevation and coordinates for each mountain but not altogether in one list.

Anyone know of anything else? Or am I going to have to raid an old atlas gazetteer?

Thanks in advance!

Have you checked the links in the Resources section?

[rudy]

Have you checked the links in the Resources section?

Yes I have - no simple one stop source. So I've taken to using the listing of "ultra" peaks as found on peaklist. These lists only include peaks with a prominence of 1500 m or more. This requires copying and cleaning up each separate table - tables are not consistent in terms of content or ordering and some don't list all the geographic coordinates (surprisingly, the peaks for the lower 48 states in the US are missing location references). So, a bit of work to do.

This is hardly a comprehensive listing but it is easy to go crazy listing trying to list every single peak - it could be an endless task. Considering that this is to be used in a world map, 1500 peaks should be more than enough.

[Nick H]

Yes I have - no simple one stop source. So I've taken to using the listing of "ultra" peaks as found on peaklist. These lists only include peaks with a prominence of 1500 m or more. This requires copying and cleaning up each separate table - tables are not consistent in terms of content or ordering and some don't list all the geographic coordinates (surprisingly, the peaks for the lower 48 states in the US are missing location references). So, a bit of work to do.

This is hardly a comprehensive listing but it is easy to go crazy listing trying to list every single peak - it could be an endless task. Considering that this is to be used in a world map, 1500 peaks should be more than enough.

Just a suggestion from someone who is only fumbling about in the dark himself, but you might find it more convenient to take the KML file containing the 1500 peaks, convert it to CSV, edit this and save it as a shape file. The KML file does contain the lat/lon coordinates for the lower-48 hills.

Just by way of self-education I've had a go at doing this, it's probably a dog's breakfast but you are welcome to the shape file if you'd like it (it'll need checking). It was a shape file you wanted?

Regards, N.

[rudy]

Just a suggestion from someone who is only fumbling about in the dark himself, but you might find it more convenient to take the KML file containing the 1500 peaks, convert it to CSV, edit this and save it as a shape file. The KML file does contain the lat/lon coordinates for the lower-48 hills.

Just by way of self-education I've had a go at doing this, it's probably a dog's breakfast but you are welcome to the shape file if you'd like it (it'll need checking). It was a shape file you wanted?

Regards, N.

Hmmm . . . I never thought of doing that. I tried export a kmz file from Google Earth but none of the values seemed to come across when I opened it in Manifold. You offer is kind but I had manged to wade through all the data and create a somewhat useable file . . . . a little clean up to be done yet on the names but good enough for my purposes.

[vW Maps]

Yes I have - no simple one stop source. So I've taken to using the listing of "ultra" peaks as found on peaklist. These lists only include peaks with a prominence of 1500 m or more. This requires

Hi Rudy,

I've been struggling with the same question lately. Tom Patterson pointed me to peakbagger.com, though I haven't found a way to export their data yet.

Good luck,
MvW

[rudy]

Yes I have - no simple one stop source. So I've taken to using the listing of "ultra" peaks as found on peaklist. These lists only include peaks with a prominence of 1500 m or more. This requires

Hi Rudy,

I've been struggling with the same question lately. Tom Patterson pointed me to peakbagger.com, though I haven't found a way to export their data yet.

Good luck,
MvW

Thanks . . . it has been awhile but I think I did use peakbagger and a number of other sources, including peak list. It seems all sources require editing and cleanup and were also a little too dense for a world map (1500 peaks is a lot to show when there is a lot of other stuff going on the map).

[Hans van der Maarel]

Have you looked at Natural Earth Vector?

[Martin Gamache]

Have you considered using the Geographic Names dataset which can probably be filtered by peak and elevation.

http://geonames.rnca...prod/data_e.php
http://geonames.rnca....ca/index_e.php