The Elevation Profile widget generates and displays an elevation profile for a line in a web map or web scene. The Draw Profile option allows a single-segment or multisegment line to be drawn interactively over the map, and the Select Line option creates an elevation profile from a selected line feature in the view (see View scene elevation profile for more information). The Elevation Profile widget is available in the Explorer group. To view the widget, click the Elevation Profile button in the upper left of the sidebar.
Note:
For a scene with ground layers, the Elevation Profile widget uses the scene layers for its elevations.
For a scene with no ground layers or a 2D map, the Elevation Profile widget default is the World Elevation 3D service.
Elevation and scenes
When you're viewing a scene, the Elevation Profile widget shows the following:
- A dotted line running straight through the selected points. The line ignores terrain and cuts through the ground.
- A solid orange line showing the topographic profile directly above and below the dotted line.
- An orange dot that follows your position on the orange topographic profile line.
The dotted line works for scenes with normal scales. It provides a good reference point if you change direction in the middle of the elevation profile.
At continental scales, the usefulness of the dotted line is more limited. It cuts straight through the earth to connect the selected points, while the orange line continues to show the topographic profile directly above the dotted line. At these scales, the rendering of the topographic profile is overwhelmed by the curvature of the earth.
When viewed from above, the orange line still follows the dotted line exactly. However, since the orange line is a topographic profile, it follows the surface of the earth—which, at this scale, means that it traces the great circle directly above the dotted line.
The topographic profile is ineffective at the perspective of low-Earth orbit. At this scale, even Mt. Everest isn't visible at this height. The orange line is only a tracing of the great circle distance between the selected points.
Elevation and maps
The orange topographic profile line is turned off for maps, but the orange dot that follows the topographic profile is visible. For normal scales, this does not matter. The orange dot follows the topographic profile, which is hidden, but since 2D maps display a top-down perspective, the orange dot stays on above the dotted control line.
Only at large scales, where the curvature of the earth matters, does the orange dot trace the invisible topographic profile line along the great circle, while the dotted line cuts a straight path through the earth. This makes it appear that the dot is deviating from the dotted line, but it is still directly on top of it. The distortion of 3D space onto the flattened map projection creates the apparent discrepancy.