How a peak finder decides which mountains you can see, and what I measured

Description and use

WhichPeak is a self‑hostable static web app that renders 360° panoramas with labeled visible summits using AWS Terrain Tiles and Overpass API. Rendering 150 km takes 4.6 s, 400 km takes 6.6 s. It includes a line‑of‑sight tool and multi‑language support.

Problem

Need a peak finder with readable, modifiable, self‑hostable method

Outcome

Rendering a 150 km view takes 4.6 s; 400 km takes 6.6 s. Peak names load in 10–32 s. Line‑of‑sight matches documented sightlines. Photo mode experimental with 1/8 matches.

Workflow

• Open link or drop pin
• Read AWS Terrain Tiles
• Build terrain in six rings (5–1000 km)
• Apply earth curvature and refraction
• Shade terrain with real sun
• Label summits above horizon
• Provide peak details on click
• Plot line‑of‑sight profile between two points

Evidence

I built WhichPeak, a static web app that draws a labeled 360 degree panorama from open elevation tiles.

Source

The terrain for a 150 km view from the Gornergrat is drawn in 4.6 s, the median of six cold runs in headless Chrome over the real network.

Source

Peak names come from Overpass and load separately, between 10 and 32 s in my runs.

Source

I also tested the line of sight against sightlines that people documented. Pic de Finestrelles to Pic Gaspard, 443 km, comes out blocked by 48 m at the average refraction and visible from k = 0.145.

Source