Yandex Adds Terrain To Maps (& Mountains)

Posted by Dan Taylor

Yandex.Maps have added new digital terrains to their “base” maps, with a focus on the Alps and Cordillera, Khibiny, and the Caucasus.

You can now see the outlines of mountains and mountain ranges. Previously, mountains in Yandex.Maps could only be viewed on satellite images.

The map for the region previously looked like this:

Yandex.Maps old “basemap” (prior to May 2021)

And with the new digital terrains, it looks like this:

Yandex.Maps new “basemap” with digital terrain, introduced May 2021.

To plot mountains on Yandex.Maps, the service team used the NASADEM open digital terrain model. It is based on data from topographic radar surveys, satellite photos, and measurements of the thickness of areas of ice cover.

You can see more examples of the changes to the basemap here.

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Source: Yandex Blog