Elevation of Johannesburg, South Africa

Johannesburg elevation at a glance

Johannesburg was founded in 1886 on the Witwatersrand, the "ridge of white waters", a range of low hills on the Highveld plateau where the world's richest gold deposits were found. It is one of the largest cities in the world not built on a river, lake or coast. The ridge forms a watershed: rain falling on its northern side drains towards the Limpopo and the Indian Ocean, rain on its southern side towards the Vaal and Orange rivers and the Atlantic. Across the metropolitan area the ground varies by a few hundred metres, from the ridges of the northern suburbs to the valleys of the Jukskei and Klip rivers.

Mine dumps and man-made hills

A century of gold mining has left yellow tailings dumps and slimes dams along the old reef, south of the city centre and stretching east and west. Some of these man-made hills rise tens of metres above the surrounding ground and appear in the elevation model like natural hills. Many have been reprocessed and removed since the model was recorded, so the map may still show a hill where today there is flat ground.

Deep mines below the city reach several kilometres beneath the surface, but an elevation model only knows the ground surface, not what lies under it.

Highveld climate

The altitude keeps Johannesburg cooler than its latitude would suggest, with mild summers, afternoon thunderstorms and cold, dry winter nights. At about 1,750 m water boils near 94 °C, and visiting sports teams often arrive early to get used to the thinner air.

How to find the elevation of a place in Johannesburg

1. The map opens on the city point and shows its elevation in the panel.
2. Search for another place or zoom in to the street, park or plot you want.
3. Click the exact spot; each click adds a point with its height in metres and feet.
4. Switch to feet if you prefer, copy the share link, or download the points as CSV or GeoJSON.

The map opens on the GeoNames point for Johannesburg and reads its height straight away. Heights come from the open Terrain Tiles dataset and are read in your browser; nothing is uploaded. A city has no single elevation: the number depends on the spot, so the values on this page are a guide, and official heights come from the national mapping agency. Read more in how to find the elevation of a location.