Global Land and Ocean Terrain Distribution Map Template
What Is the GEBCO Global Integrated Land and Ocean Raster Terrain Model?
GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) is a century-long project jointly administered by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. Its goal is to complete high-precision mapping of the global seabed by 2030 through the “Seabed 2030” initiative. GEBCO’s core product is the annually updated Global Integrated Land and Ocean Raster Terrain Model (GEBCO Grid), which is freely available to the public for research, engineering, cartography, education, and many other uses. GEBCO
Latest Versions
| Version | Release date | Spatial resolution | Data volume | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEBCO_2025 Grid | 2025-06-06 | 15″ (about 500 m) | 3.7 × 10⁹ pixels | Uses SRTM15+ v2.7 as the base for land areas and oceans from 50° S to 60° N; incorporates the latest multibeam bathymetry from the four Seabed 2030 regional centers; 27.3% of the seabed now meets modern bathymetric standards |
| GEBCO_2024 Grid | 2024-07-24 | 15″ | Same as above | Adds 4.34 × 10⁶ km² of data; provides “sub-ice” versions for Greenland and Antarctica for the first time |
| GEBCO_2023 Grid | 2023-07-12 | 15″ | Same as above | Continues to integrate data from regional centers and crowdsourced bathymetry (CSB) |
Data Components
- Primary raster (Elevation Grid): uses meters as the unit. Positive values represent land elevation, and negative values represent water depth.
- TID Grid: each raster pixel has a corresponding Type Identifier that indicates its data source, such as multibeam, single-beam, satellite-guided reconstruction, or interpolation. GEBCO
- Sub-ice versions: additional “terrain beneath ice sheets” rasters are available for Greenland and Antarctica.
Download Options and Formats
| Method | Content | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Global full grid | One NetCDF / GeoTIFF / Esri ASCII | Single file, about 7.5 GB |
| 8 tiles | 90° × 90° tiles | About 890 MB per file, 8 files |
| Online subset | Custom extent download | GeoTIFF / NetCDF / ASCII |
| Web services | WMS, WMTS, TileXYZ | Suitable for online basemaps |
GeoTIFF is generally recommended. GEBCO_2024 Grid download page.
License, Citation, and DOI
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Free to use: available for both commercial and academic use.
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Requirement: cite “© GEBCO Year” in derived outputs and include the DOI, for example GEBCO_2025:
10.5285/37c52e96-24ea-67ce-e063-7086abc05f29. British Oceanographic Data Centre -
Disclaimer: GEBCO is not responsible for any loss caused by use of the data.
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For detailed information about data from each year, refer to the corresponding DOI.
Using the Data
After downloading the GeoTIFF, upload it to Cloud Resource Manager. Alternatively, use the pre-cached data in the public space directly.
For this dataset, you can apply a standard global terrain color scheme.
| Zone | Class (m) | RGB color | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-deep trench | <= -8000 | 0, 0, 50 | The world’s deepest trenches, such as Mariana |
| Deep ocean basin | -8000 → -6000 | 0, 40, 130 | Deep ocean plains and basins |
| Abyssal plain | -6000 → -4000 | 0, 80, 200 | Abyssal plains to the foot of ocean ridges |
| Oceanic slope | -4000 → -2000 | 0, 120, 240 | Continental slopes and mid-ocean ridge slopes |
| Outer continental shelf | -2000 → -200 | 70, 170, 255 | Shallow sea to continental slope transition |
| Continental shelf and tidal flat | -200 → 0 | 172, 220, 255 | Nearshore shoals and deltas |
| Coastline / lowland | 0 → 200 | 0, 120, 0 | Low-elevation coastal plains and estuaries |
| Low hills | 200 → 1000 | 80, 160, 0 | Rolling hills and low mountains |
| Mid-elevation mountains | 1000 → 2000 | 172, 172, 0 | Plateau margins and agro-pastoral uplands |
| Plateau | 2000 → 3000 | 200, 150, 0 | Inland plateaus and tablelands |
| Low mountain ridge | 3000 → 4000 | 210, 110, 35 | Mountain ridges and exposed rock walls |
| High mountain | 4000 → 5000 | 220, 170, 130 | High-altitude valleys where snow and ice begin to appear |
| Extremely high mountain | 5000 → 6000 | 240, 220, 200 | High-elevation glacier areas |
| Snow line | 6000 → 8848 | 250, 250, 250 | Perennial snow and ice caps |
| Highest peaks | >= 8848 | 255, 255, 255 | Mount Everest and other extreme elevations |
In iXGIS, you can use either stretch color rendering or classified color rendering. Hillshade can also be used in this workflow.
Simplified GEBCO Template
Creation Workflow
Create a simplified global land and ocean terrain distribution map by reducing the original data by a factor of 10.
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Load the simplified GEBCO global land and ocean raster terrain model from the public space. Its resolution is 45′.
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Set symbols and styles.
You can use the global land and ocean terrain color scheme shown in the table above. Both stretch and classified symbology are supported; this example uses stretch colors.
If the project was created from the Global Terrain GEBCO template, you can directly reuse the existing symbol settings.
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Optionally load the simplified global country distribution layer.
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Open the mapping workspace and add a north arrow, scale bar, and legend.
Select the map frame and set the scale to 1:150,000,000 in the map properties.
Use the Template Directly
From the iXGIS New menu, copy this project directly.