LiDAR & Contours

Accurate elevation data in seconds, not days.

Equator gives civil engineers and site designers instant access to high-resolution LiDAR, contour lines, and DEMs — no waiting on data vendors, no GIS team required. Export straight to your CAD workflow.

Houston Contours

Used by 400+ civil, survey & consulting teams across North America

Why Equator

Stop hunting for elevation data. Start designing.

Most civil teams spend hours tracking down LiDAR files, converting formats, and cleaning up bad contours before they can even open a project. Equator replaces that entire process.

National LiDAR Coverage

High-resolution data across the US and Canada, accessible in one search.

CAD-ready outputs

Export contours as DWG, DXF, or GeoJSON — pre-formatted for Civil 3D and AutoCAD.

No GIS expertise needed

Built for engineers. If you can draw a site boundary, you can get your data.

What you can access

Every elevation product your project needs.

Pull the right data for each phase — from early feasibility through final deliverables.

LiDAR Point Cloud from Equator

LiDAR Point Cloud

Access high-density aerial LiDAR in LAZ or LAS format. Ideal for terrain analysis, slope mapping, and generating surfaces in Civil 3D.

✓ LAZ / LAS download
✓ Classified ground returns
✓ Nationwide US & Canada coverage

LEARN MORE →

Contours in Sketchup

Contour Lines & Elevation Models

Generate accurate contour lines at your chosen interval directly from LiDAR. Export to DWG for your CAD environment.

 

✓ Custom contour intervals
✓ DWG, DXF, GeoJSON, GeoTIFF
✓ Civil 3D & AutoCAD compatible

LEARN MORE →

Who it’s built for

Built for the work that happens before the design starts.

From early feasibility to grading plan prep, Equator’s elevation data fits the way civil and environmental teams actually work.

🏗️ Site feasibility & grading

Pull contours and slope data to assess a parcel before committing to a project.

📐 Civil engineering design

Export DWG-ready contours to seed your Civil 3D surface — skip the format conversion step.

🌿 Environmental assessment

Generate drainage basins, slope maps, and elevation profiles for stormwater or wetland studies.

📦 Land development & permitting

Produce the elevation exhibit your permit submission needs — quickly, from real LiDAR data.

🔭 Surveying & field verification

Use LiDAR point clouds as a baseline before field crews go out — or to cross-check results.

📋 Proposal-stage site mapping

Drop a contour map into your proposal in seconds — show clients you’ve done your homework.

How it works

From site boundary to CAD-ready contours — in three steps.

1

Draw your site boundary 

Search an address, draw your project area. No data to upload, no files to find.

2

Choose your elevation products

Select contours, DEM, or point cloud. Set your contour interval. Preview before downloading.

3

Export in your format

Download as DWG, DXF, GeoJSON, or GeoTIFF. Opens directly in Civil 3D, AutoCAD, ArcGIS, or QGIS.

How it compares

There are other ways to get LiDAR and contours.

Here’s why teams switch to Equator.

Getting elevation data sounds simple — until you try.

🌐 Public GIS sources
USGS, state portals, open data

PROS

  • Free to use

  • Wide US coverage

  • Government-sourced data

PROS

  • Scattered across dozens of portals

  • No DWG or CAD export

  • Accuracy drops at tile boundaries

  • No clipping to your site

  • No custom contour intervals

  • Hours of manual work

🖥️ GIS & CAD software
ArcGIS, QGIS, Global Mapper

PROS

  • Powerful analysis tools

  • Flexible — many data types

  • Can export to DWG

PROS

  • Requires GIS expertise

  • Data still sourced separately

  • Expensive licences ($1,500+/yr)

  • Download → process → clip → export

  • Download → process → clip → export

  • Slow for feasibility or proposals

EQ Equator
LiDAR, contours & DEMs in one place

WHY TEAMS CHOOSE EQUATOR

  • Data, clipping & export in one workflow

  • DWG, DXF, GeoTIFF — opens in Civil 3D

  • Clipped to your exact site — no stitching

  • Custom contour intervals (1ft, 2ft, 1m…)

  • No GIS background required

  • Search to DWG in under 5 minutes

  • Free to start

What our clients say

Used by engineers doing real site work.

“I have been making basemaps for over 15 years and Equator cuts down work time like crazy… can’t quite comprehend yet how much time and frustration this saves.”

J   Jim, Architect

“I’ve got a better design and cut the project costs nearly in half — and that was all from right here at my desk.”

J Tom, Director of Real Estate

Integrations

Exports that open in the tools you already use.

No plugins. No conversion step. Formatted for your existing CAD and GIS environment.

Civil 3D
Microstation
HEC-RAS
QGIS
Infraworks
SketchUp
ArcGIS
Rhino
Revit
AutoCAD
Sketchuo
Blender

Learn how to integrate site data from Equator into your existing workflow

Click on an icon to select your software and learn how Equator fits in.  Equator is helping civil engineers, architects, land developers and designers get CAD and modelling deliverables done 10x faster, with high-resolution site maps.

Get Started

Your next site map is 30 seconds away.

No data vendor. No GIS team. No waiting. Try Equator free and pull your first contour map before your next meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Equator is mapping and design software with thousands of built-in data sets.  Equator is used by civil engineers, architects, and construction professionals around the world to find, build, and share maps and designs instantly.

Equator indexes data from open data portals around the world.  Many data sets are pulled in automatically through APIs and others are added by our team of GIS experts and geospatial developers.

Equator goes above and beyond other data platforms, by layering on automated GIS services.  Instead of hiring specialists to collect or process data, Equator allows you to independently create deliverables that meet your project needs in minutes.

LiDAR is Light Detection and Ranging technology.  This technology uses a pulsed laser to measure distances from the laser to a surface.  LiDAR is often used for remote sensing applications, for example, measuring the distance to the Earth’s surface for elevation mapping.  Learn more here.