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Self-Hosting OpenTopoData for meshRF

By default, the rf-engine uses the public OpenTopoData API, which is rate-limited. For unlimited local queries and better performance, you can self-host the OpenTopoData service using the included Docker configuration.

1. Setup

The service is already configured in docker-compose.yml, but it requires you to manually download the elevation data files for your region.

Directory Structure

Ensure the following directory exists in your project root:

data/opentopodata/

(The Docker service maps this folder to /app/data inside the container)

2. Download Elevation Data (Example: Portland, OR)

meshRF is configured to use the NED 10m dataset (high resolution for US) by default.

  1. Find your grid: Portland, Oregon is located at approximately N45 W122.

  2. Download the file: You need the .hgt or .tif files for this region.

    • Source: USGS National Map or via OpenTopography.
    • Direct Download (NED 10m): Look for files named like n45w123.hgt or similar 1-arc-second data.

    For this example, download the 1-arc-second SRTM or NED file for N45W123.

  3. Place the file: Move the downloaded .hgt (or .tif) file into data/opentopodata/.

    meshrf/
├── data/
│   └── opentopodata/
│       └── n45w123.hgt  <-- Place file here

If you would like to download larger datasets to support an entire region we have created a tool for batch processing with guides on batch downloads from USGS meshRF Datasets Tool

3. Configuration (config.yaml)

The service requires a config.yaml file to define the datasets. Only the config.yaml is tracked by git; the data files are ignored.

Create or edit data/opentopodata/config.yaml:

Example:

datasets:
  - name: ned10m
    path: /app/data/ned10m/
    filename_epsg: 4269
    filename_tile_size: 1
    wgs84_bounds:
      left: -125
      right: -115
      bottom: 41
      top: 50

4. Environment Variables

If you downloaded a different dataset type (e.g., SRTM 30m instead of NED 10m), update the ELEVATION_DATASET environment variable in docker-compose.yml:

rf-engine:
  environment:
    - ELEVATION_API_URL=http://opentopodata:5000
    - ELEVATION_DATASET=srtm30m # Change to match your data (srtm30m, srtm90m, ned10m, etc.)

5. Restart

Restart the services to pick up the new data:

docker-compose restart rf-engine

The service scans the data folder on startup. If successful, http://localhost:5000/v1/ned10m?locations=45.5,-122.6 should return valid elevation data.