How this works
Routes are computed in your browser over 160,000 street
segments, using USGS 1 m lidar elevation and the Overture /
OpenStreetMap street graph. The slider runs along the whole trade-off
between distance and climbing: every route that nothing else beats on
both counts, from the shortest path to the flattest one worth walking
(where a foot of climb costs 200 ft of walking; beyond that the routes
stop being routes). Sliding right never shortens the route and never
adds climbing. Climbing is cumulative gain, not the net difference
between the endpoints. Stairways are allowed on foot and excluded on a
bike. Faint lines show the other routes along the way. Place search is offline: street intersections,
places and addresses for San Francisco are built into this page.
Source, data and the full analysis.