Elevation Tools
Overview
Reference material for the Elevation Tools tool/feature in ATAK, sourced from the official ATAK 5.7 Software User Manual (chapter 23, "Elevation Tools").
Manual Reference
Select the Elevation Tools icon to open the Elevation Tool. The Elevation Tool includes Heatmap, Terrain Slope, Viewshed and Contour Lines functionality.
The Heatmap Tool displays elevation data on a color scale with lower elevations repre- sented by blue and higher elevations by red. The Intensity, Saturation, and Value can be modified for user preference. Elevation Data (such as DTED, SRTM, Quantized Mesh or other forms) is needed for this tool to work properly.
Terrain Slope can be viewed by selecting the Heatmap box and changing the selection to Terrain Slope. The slope of the elevation data is a color scale with smaller slopes depicted as yellow and higher slope values as black. The intensity can be modified by the user.
Viewshed
The Viewshed tool determines the visibility from a selected map location. From the Viewshed tab, select the Place Viewshed (eye above peak) icon and then tap a location on the map or select a map marker. A Viewshed (eye) marker will appear on the map interface.
Note: If zoomed out too far, only the Eye View icon will be visible. Zoom in to see the viewshed.
Note: Viewsheds and contour lines do not persist upon ATAK quit/restart.
A circle with the specified radius will display with the viewshed marker as the center. Green parts of the circle represent areas visible from that location and red parts represent areas that are obstructed from view. The Height Above Marker can be altered to reflect how far above ground level the viewshed should calculate. The radius of the viewshed can also be modified.
The elevation data source can be selected by toggling the Source button. Terrain and Surface are supported sources. If Adjust Together is unchecked, the intensity of the visible and obscured areas can be adjusted separately using the seen/unseen sliders. Intensity can be increased or decreased by using the slide bar or entering a numeric value. Select Remove Viewshed to delete the viewshed from the map.
Tap Select Viewshed to show a list of all created viewsheds. Select an individual viewshed name to pan to it on the map. Select the i icon (Details) to view or modify the current viewshed parameters. Viewsheds can also be removed through the multi-select tool. The viewshed radial will open by selecting the Viewshed (eye) icon. Available options are Delete, Fine Adjust/Enter Coordinate/MGRS Location, R&B Line, and Details.
Settings for Elevation Tools can be changed by navigating to Settings > Tool Preferences > Specific Tool Preferences > Elevation Overlay Preferences.
Contour Lines
The Contour Lines Tool generates contour lines on the map in the area within the current window.
To generate contour lines, select the Contour tab within the Elevation Tools screen. The Generate button becomes active when the map is zoomed to the correct scale (Scale varies based on screen resolution). Modify fields as desired and then select the Generate button. A progress bar and the percentage complete will appear to give feedback on the contour line generation.
Major Lines and Minor Lines can be toggled on or off without having to regenerate the contour lines. Line color, Units (meters or feet) and Major Line Width can also be changed without regenerating the contour lines. If the Interval is modified, select the Generate button to regenerate the contour lines with the new value.
Source
ATAK 5.7 Software User Manual, 13 March 2026 (Unclassified), pages 77–79.