Good source for height maps

[piekat]

Hi

I found that Encarta Atlas is a very good source for height maps to be used with the map generators that can be found on this forum (thanks to both the guys that made them, they work really well).
I'm using Encarta Atlas 2001, with this version you can export maps (physical maps with heights coded with colors) in BMP format. Then you need Photoshop or Gimp (a freeware photoedit software) to convert to gray scale and reduce brightness. The only difficulty is to change water color (I use black), but anybody with little experience in photo edit can do it easily.
I'm working on Italy map (my country), I'll post it as soon as it will be ready