terrainprofile

terrainprofile is a small local bridge to the hosted Geospatial System location-profile MCP server, which reads elevation data from global and regional DEM (digital elevation model) datasets. Give it a latitude and longitude plus a dataset id, and it answers with the elevation at that point, elevation and slope statistics over small neighbourhood windows, range-box charts, a composite terrain map, or a 3-D perspective surface of the site.

The bridge keeps no terrain data of its own. It serves the upstream server's tool list locally, exactly as captured from the live endpoint, and forwards each tool call upstream, returning the result untouched. The captured surface is read-only terrain data: there is no write, purchase, or account tool in it.

Tools

• list_datasets — list all available elevation datasets on the server. Takes no arguments; call it first to get a dataset_id.

• LP_Get_Elevation — elevation in metres at one coordinate. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Available on all tiers including Free.

• LP_Get_Elevation_Batch — elevation for up to 100 points in one call. Required: queries, a list of objects with lat, lon, and dataset_id. Available on all tiers including Free.

• LP_Get_Elevation_Stats — elevation statistics (min, average, max) for 3×3, 5×5 and 7×7 pixel windows centred on the coordinates. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Requires Pro or Enterprise key.

• LP_Get_Slope_Stats — terrain slope statistics (min, average, max) in degrees for the same window sizes, WGS-84 corrected. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Requires Pro key.

• LP_Get_Elevation_Chart — a range-box chart of elevation min/avg/max across the three window sizes, returned as a URL to the chart image. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Optional: fmt ("png" by default, also "svg" or "pdf"). Requires Pro key.

• LP_Get_Slope_Chart — the same range-box chart for terrain slope. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Optional: fmt (default "png"). Requires Pro key.

• LP_Get_Terrain_Map — a composite terrain map: satellite imagery plus smoothed contours with labels, flow-direction arrows, and a location pin, all in EPSG:3857. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Optional: offset (half-window pixels, default 20), n_arrows (flow arrow grid density, default 11), and fmt (default "png"). Requires Pro key.

• LP_Get_Terrain_3D — a 3-D perspective terrain surface coloured by elevation, with a red spike pin marking the query location. Required: lat, lon, dataset_id. Optional: offset (default 20), elev_angle (camera elevation, default 45), azim_angle (camera azimuth, default 135), and fmt ("png" by default, or "html"). Requires Pro key.

Coordinates are decimal degrees in WGS-84.

Related MCP server: @cyanheads/openstreetmap-mcp-server

Configuration

• GEOSPATIAL_MCP_URL (optional) — override the upstream endpoint. Defaults to https://api.geospatialsystem.com/mcp. (The override hook is this rebuild's own labelled reconstruction.)

• GEOSPATIAL_API_KEY (optional) — when set, every upstream request carries an Authorization: Bearer <key> header, for the caller's own Geospatial System key. The registry record for the original server declares a required secret Authorization header; the Bearer scheme and the forwarding from this env var are labelled reconstructions, because the original surface was captured keyless. When it is not set, no key header is sent.

Forwarding mechanics

On the first tool call the client opens a streamable HTTP session with the upstream: a JSON-RPC initialize request (protocolVersion 2025-03-26, clientInfo name terrainprofile), then a notifications/initialized notification, then the tools/call request carrying the caller's arguments unchanged. When the upstream answers initialize with an Mcp-Session-Id header, that value rides on every later request of the session, which is reused for the life of the process. Replies may arrive as plain JSON or as server-sent events; both are read.

Successful upstream results pass through verbatim, including any isError flag the upstream sets. Failures — a JSON-RPC error, a non-2xx status, an unreadable response, or a request that cannot be completed — come back as an isError result whose text starts with terrainprofile error: (this rendering is this rebuild's own labelled reconstruction).

CLI

Each tool is also a subcommand taking one JSON argument string:

npx @reneturcios/terrainprofile list_datasets
npx @reneturcios/terrainprofile LP_Get_Elevation '{"lat":37.7749,"lon":-122.4194,"dataset_id":"<id from list_datasets>"}'
npx @reneturcios/terrainprofile LP_Get_Elevation_Batch '{"queries":[{"lat":37.7749,"lon":-122.4194,"dataset_id":"<id>"}]}'
npx @reneturcios/terrainprofile LP_Get_Terrain_3D '{"lat":37.7749,"lon":-122.4194,"dataset_id":"<id>","fmt":"html"}'
npx @reneturcios/terrainprofile --version

Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 on an isError result, 2 on a usage error.

MCP server

npx -y @reneturcios/terrainprofile mcp

MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terrainprofile": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@reneturcios/terrainprofile", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Docker

docker run -i ghcr.io/cloudcorprecords/terrainprofile
docker run --rm ghcr.io/cloudcorprecords/terrainprofile --version

The container's default command is mcp, so the first form is a stdio MCP server; any other arguments reach the CLI normally.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test
npm run dev

The test suite runs entirely against a stubbed JSON-RPC upstream — no live network calls.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.