If you stand on the summit of the Kunlun Mountains, which stretch along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in China, on a clear you should be able to see Pik Dankova – a remote peak in the Tian Shan of Kyrgyzstan – more than 530 km away.
Exploring the World’s Longest Views
All the Views is essentially a global visibility map. Click anywhere on the map and it calculates the maximum distance you can see in every direction, highlighting the longest uninterrupted line of sight.
Select a location, and the map draws out radial sightlines, revealing both the direction and distance of visibility. In some places, especially along coastlines or island chains, you get surprisingly long views thanks to the absence of terrain blocking the horizon.
How the Map Works
Under the hood, All the Views is built on elevation data from NASA’s SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) – a near-global dataset with roughly 100 m resolution. The creators use a cleaned version of this data to reduce known inconsistencies and artefacts.
From any chosen point, the system casts 360 lines of sight, one for each degree of direction. Along each line, it checks whether the terrain blocks visibility or whether the line can continue outward toward the horizon. All the Views doesn’t account for man-made obstructions or other factors, such as buildings and trees, that can block visibility. So, for example, it tells me I have a 31 km view from my house something that might be true in theory, if my neighbour’s house 30 metres away wasn’t directly in the way.
Also See
UpToWhere – viewshed mapping
PeakFinder – mapping what's in your line of sight
