ContourMap.app draws contour lines for any area in a minute; Mantle Place delivers the whole site behind them: imagery, a real elevation model, vectors, and contours.
ContourMap.app and Mantle Place both give you contours for a site you draw. ContourMap.app is a web tool built for exactly that: pick an interval from 0.5 m to 1000 m and export contour lines as DXF, SVG, Shapefile, GeoJSON, KMZ, an image, and more, from Mapzen terrain tiles, or from USGS 3DEP lidar on areas up to 1.5 square miles in selected US locations, with OpenStreetMap roads and structures as an option. Access is sold as 24 hours for $19 or a year for $95. Mantle Place delivers the site the contours describe: aerial imagery, the finest native elevation for the area as a GeoTIFF DEM (1 m wherever USGS lidar covers the site), a vector basemap, and more, with DXF contours, a LandXML surface, and terrain meshes included at no extra cost. Choose ContourMap.app for quick contour linework; choose Mantle Place for the full site.
Competitor details checked against contourmap.app, its FAQ and its terms.
ContourMap.app and CADMapper both export contours, and neither lists aerial imagery among its outputs. Mantle Place adds it: each bundle carries imagery (aerial in the US, 10 m satellite elsewhere), the finest native elevation for the area as a GeoTIFF DEM, and a vector basemap, and carries DXF contours, a LandXML surface, and terrain meshes, all on one georeferenced extent.
ContourMap.app offers lidar contours only up to 1.5 square miles in selected US locations. A Mantle Place order covers up to 64 km² and uses one-meter USGS 3DEP lidar wherever it covers the whole area, and traces its DXF contours from it at no extra cost.
In the US, Mantle Place takes the finest 3DEP rung that covers the entire area, 1 m wherever USGS lidar covers the site, up to 64 km². ContourMap.app limits its lidar tier to 1.5 square miles in selected locations.
Every bundle carries aerial imagery on the same extent as the contours, NAIP at 1 m or finer across the US and 10 m Sentinel-2 elsewhere, ready as a site-plan underlay.
Beside DXF contours, the bundle carries the DEM itself, a LandXML surface for Civil 3D, a 3D DXF surface, and terrain meshes, so grading starts from the ground model rather than from traced lines.
| Dimension | Mantle Place | ContourMap.app | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you download | A georeferenced site bundle, contours included | Contour lines, optionally with roads and structures | For a contour drawing in a minute, ContourMap.app is built for exactly that; for a site you will grade, render, or coordinate, the bundle carries the layers around the lines. |
| Elevation source | USGS 3DEP in the US, finest available elsewhere | Mapzen terrain tiles; 3DEP lidar up to 1.5 square miles | Contours are only as good as the surface they are traced from, and the stated resolution in a Mantle Place bundle tells you which surface that was. |
| Contour control | DXF contours generated from the DEM | Intervals from 0.5 m to 1000 m, smoothing, labels, bold lines | ContourMap.app gives finer control over how the lines are drawn and labelled, which matters for a presentation drawing. |
| Aerial imagery | Included in every bundle | Not listed among its exports | Imagery is what lets a contour plan be read against the real site, and it is often the layer a team ends up sourcing separately. |
| Pricing | Free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km² | $19 for 24 hours or $95 for a year | For many contour maps in one day or one year, ContourMap.app’s pass is good value; for a few full sites, a one-time price by area is simpler. |
| Formats | DXF, GeoTIFF, LandXML, OBJ, glTF, IFC, and more | DXF, SVG, Shapefile, GeoJSON, KMZ, images, and more | ContourMap.app also writes native AutoCAD drawings and Google Earth files; Mantle Place adds surfaces and meshes for Civil 3D, Revit, and real-time engines. |
Yes, when contours are one part of the job. Mantle Place generates DXF contours from the finest native elevation for the area, and delivers them with aerial imagery, a GeoTIFF DEM, vectors, and more on one georeferenced extent.
Yes. Mantle Place contours share one real-world coordinate reference with every other layer in the bundle. ContourMap.app also lets you choose a coordinate system when you export.
ContourMap.app sells access as $19 for 24 hours or $95 for a year, with up to 20 maps a day on the year plan. Mantle Place is free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km², rounded up to the whole dollar and paid once.
When the deliverable is a contour drawing and nothing else, you need many of them in a short window, or you want native AutoCAD drawings or Google Earth files with fine control over intervals and labels.
Draw an area and see it in a free Site Brief before you pay. Download a bundle for Unreal, Revit, Civil 3D, QGIS, and more. Every format is built with your order, at no extra cost. $5 plus $2 per km², and 2 km² and under is free. Paid bundles are yours for good. Free bundles keep 30 days, or keep one permanently at its normal price.
Native plugins: Mantle Place for Unreal and Mantle Place for Revit.
