Why isn't there SOME sort of free ESRI elevation service?

[SteveCole]

[FYI- This discusson relates to the use of the REST service within a Javascript API application]

Look, I get it- ESRI wants to make money off of its users, and I have no problem with the concept of having to pay for a viewshed analysis or drainage basin calculation. That being said, why can't I just perform a simple query for the elevation of a given lat/lon location??

I can geocode a single street address without any hassle or preconditions but if I want to query a single elevation point, I'm required to have a Developers or ArcGIS Organizational account. If I had that, that query wouldn't cost any credits so why make it this difficult for folks to use in the first place? At least Google provides this option to its users. If ESRI still wants to create an incentive for users to pay for this information, provide a degraded resolution (30m resolution, SRTM source, etc) value for the free option. For my application, this would more than suffice.

I'd like the users of my application to be able to use it world wide but can only offer US coverage (using the USGS elevation query service) because of this deficiency.

Steve

[RajinderNagi]

Steve,

Thanks for your query. Esri World Elevation Image Services does require an Developers or ArcGIS Organizational account (its a business decision) but does NOT consume any credit . These are dynamic services provides access to derivatives as well as raw elevation values. You can embed your org account credential (if you have) with elevation item (How to Share ArcGIS Online Live Feeds with the Public | ArcGIS Blog ) and use it in your app without user's to sign-in.

ArcGIS Online subscription come with lots of ready-to-use content (Ready-to-Use Content Included with Your Online Subscription | ArcGIS Blog ). You can suggest the need of free option on ArcGIS Ideas page http://ideas.arcgis.com/ for management to look at.

[BrendanO_Neill]

Hey there Steve,

To add to Rajinder's response, you can sign up for a free Developers account that entitles you to use of the elevation service and provides you with 50 credits per month. Plans | ArcGIS for Developers

Cheers,

Brendan