diff --git a/docs/endpoints.rst b/docs/endpoints.rst
index 12f1acf5e..435144acb 100644
--- a/docs/endpoints.rst
+++ b/docs/endpoints.rst
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ Source data
 
     * the result will be a json object like ``{"z":7,"x":68,"y":45,"red":134,"green":66,"blue":0,"latitude":11.84069,"longitude":46.04798,"elevation":1602}``
 
+  * The elevation api is not available in the ``tileserver-gl-light`` version.
+
 Static files
 ===========
 * Static files are served at ``/files/{filename}``
diff --git a/public/templates/data.tmpl b/public/templates/data.tmpl
index 70d3a2272..12a8d9850 100644
--- a/public/templates/data.tmpl
+++ b/public/templates/data.tmpl
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{{public_url}}maplibre-gl-inspect.css{{&key_query}}" />
   <script src="{{public_url}}maplibre-gl.js{{&key_query}}"></script>
   <script src="{{public_url}}maplibre-gl-inspect.js{{&key_query}}"></script>
+  {{^is_light}}
   <script src="{{public_url}}elevation-control.js{{&key_query}}"></script>
+  {{/is_light}}
   <style>
     body {background:#fff;color:#333;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;}
     {{^is_terrain}}
@@ -21,7 +23,9 @@
     h1 {position:absolute;top:5px;right:0;width:240px;margin:0;line-height:20px;font-size:20px;}
     #layerList {position:absolute;top:35px;right:0;bottom:0;width:240px;overflow:auto;}
     #layerList div div {width:15px;height:15px;display:inline-block;}
+    {{^is_light}}
     .maplibre-ctrl-elevation { padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; }
+    {{/is_light}}
   </style>
   {{/use_maplibre}}
   {{^use_maplibre}}
@@ -135,11 +139,13 @@
       })
     );
 
+    {{^is_light}}
     map.addControl(
       new ElevationInfoControl({
         url: "{{public_url}}data/{{id}}/elevation/{z}/{x}/{y}"
       })
     );
+    {{/is_light}}
     {{/is_terrain}}
     {{^is_terrain}}
 
diff --git a/public/templates/index.tmpl b/public/templates/index.tmpl
index acf094f77..1d3a514ec 100644
--- a/public/templates/index.tmpl
+++ b/public/templates/index.tmpl
@@ -124,9 +124,9 @@
             {{/is_vector}}
             {{^is_vector}}
             <a class="btn" href="{{public_url}}data/{{@key}}/{{&../key_query}}{{viewer_hash}}">View</a>
-              {{#elevation_link}}
+              {{#is_terrain}}
             <a class="btn" href="{{public_url}}data/preview/{{@key}}/{{&../key_query}}{{viewer_hash}}">Preview Terrain</a>
-              {{/elevation_link}}
+              {{/is_terrain}}
             {{/is_vector}}
           </div>
         </div>
diff --git a/src/serve_data.js b/src/serve_data.js
index cd2e6bbf7..6369aa21d 100644
--- a/src/serve_data.js
+++ b/src/serve_data.js
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ import express from 'express';
 import Pbf from 'pbf';
 import { VectorTile } from '@mapbox/vector-tile';
 import SphericalMercator from '@mapbox/sphericalmercator';
-import { Image, createCanvas } from 'canvas';
-import sharp from 'sharp';
 
 import {
   fixTileJSONCenter,
@@ -21,6 +19,20 @@ import { getPMtilesInfo, openPMtiles } from './pmtiles_adapter.js';
 import { gunzipP, gzipP } from './promises.js';
 import { openMbTilesWrapper } from './mbtiles_wrapper.js';
 
+import fs from 'node:fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+const packageJson = JSON.parse(
+  fs.readFileSync(
+    path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) + '/../package.json',
+    'utf8',
+  ),
+);
+
+const isLight = packageJson.name.slice(-6) === '-light';
+const serve_rendered = (
+  await import(`${!isLight ? `./serve_rendered.js` : `./serve_light.js`}`)
+).serve_rendered;
+
 export const serve_data = {
   /**
    * Initializes the serve_data module.
@@ -246,79 +258,20 @@ export const serve_data = {
         if (fetchTile == null) return res.status(204).send();
 
         let data = fetchTile.data;
-        const image = new Image();
-        await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
-          image.onload = async () => {
-            const canvas = createCanvas(TILE_SIZE, TILE_SIZE);
-            const context = canvas.getContext('2d');
-            context.drawImage(image, 0, 0);
-            const long = bbox[0];
-            const lat = bbox[1];
-
-            // calculate pixel coordinate of tile,
-            // see https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/map-coordinates
-            let siny = Math.sin((lat * Math.PI) / 180);
-            // Truncating to 0.9999 effectively limits latitude to 89.189. This is
-            // about a third of a tile past the edge of the world tile.
-            siny = Math.min(Math.max(siny, -0.9999), 0.9999);
-            const xWorld = TILE_SIZE * (0.5 + long / 360);
-            const yWorld =
-              TILE_SIZE *
-              (0.5 - Math.log((1 + siny) / (1 - siny)) / (4 * Math.PI));
-
-            const scale = 1 << zoom;
-
-            const xTile = Math.floor((xWorld * scale) / TILE_SIZE);
-            const yTile = Math.floor((yWorld * scale) / TILE_SIZE);
-
-            const xPixel = Math.floor(xWorld * scale) - xTile * TILE_SIZE;
-            const yPixel = Math.floor(yWorld * scale) - yTile * TILE_SIZE;
-            if (
-              xPixel < 0 ||
-              yPixel < 0 ||
-              xPixel >= TILE_SIZE ||
-              yPixel >= TILE_SIZE
-            ) {
-              return reject('Out of bounds Pixel');
-            }
-            const imgdata = context.getImageData(xPixel, yPixel, 1, 1);
-            const red = imgdata.data[0];
-            const green = imgdata.data[1];
-            const blue = imgdata.data[2];
-            let elevation;
-            if (encoding === 'mapbox') {
-              elevation = -10000 + (red * 256 * 256 + green * 256 + blue) * 0.1;
-            } else if (encoding === 'terrarium') {
-              elevation = red * 256 + green + blue / 256 - 32768;
-            } else {
-              elevation = 'invalid encoding';
-            }
-            resolve(
-              res.status(200).send({
-                z: zoom,
-                x: xy[0],
-                y: xy[1],
-                red,
-                green,
-                blue,
-                latitude: lat,
-                longitude: long,
-                elevation,
-              }),
-            );
-          };
-          image.onerror = (err) => reject(err);
-          if (format === 'webp') {
-            try {
-              const img = await sharp(data).toFormat('png').toBuffer();
-              image.src = img;
-            } catch (err) {
-              reject(err);
-            }
-          } else {
-            image.src = data;
-          }
-        });
+        var param = {
+          long: bbox[0],
+          lat: bbox[1],
+          encoding,
+          format,
+          tile_size: TILE_SIZE,
+          z: zoom,
+          x: xy[0],
+          y: xy[1],
+        };
+
+        res
+          .status(200)
+          .send(await serve_rendered.getTerrainElevation(data, param));
       } catch (err) {
         return res
           .status(500)
diff --git a/src/serve_light.js b/src/serve_light.js
index 7e49c4929..13aa84c73 100644
--- a/src/serve_light.js
+++ b/src/serve_light.js
@@ -6,4 +6,8 @@ export const serve_rendered = {
   init: (options, repo, programOpts) => {},
   add: (options, repo, params, id, programOpts, dataResolver) => {},
   remove: (repo, id) => {},
+  getTerrainElevation: (data, param) => {
+    param['elevation'] = 'not supported in light';
+    return param;
+  },
 };
diff --git a/src/serve_rendered.js b/src/serve_rendered.js
index af928d993..3dc3cd546 100644
--- a/src/serve_rendered.js
+++ b/src/serve_rendered.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 // This happens on ARM:
 //  > terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
 //  > what():  Cannot read GLX extensions.
-import 'canvas';
+import { Image, createCanvas } from 'canvas';
 import '@maplibre/maplibre-gl-native';
 //
 // SECTION END
@@ -1458,4 +1458,76 @@ export const serve_rendered = {
     }
     delete repo[id];
   },
+
+  /**
+   * Get the elevation of terrain tile data by rendering it to a canvas image
+   * @param {object} data The background color (or empty string for transparent).
+   * @param {object} param Required parameters (coordinates e.g.)
+   * @returns {object}
+   */
+  getTerrainElevation: async function (data, param) {
+    return await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
+      const image = new Image();
+      image.onload = async () => {
+        const canvas = createCanvas(param['tile_size'], param['tile_size']);
+        const context = canvas.getContext('2d');
+        context.drawImage(image, 0, 0);
+
+        // calculate pixel coordinate of tile,
+        // see https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/map-coordinates
+        let siny = Math.sin((param['lat'] * Math.PI) / 180);
+        // Truncating to 0.9999 effectively limits latitude to 89.189. This is
+        // about a third of a tile past the edge of the world tile.
+        siny = Math.min(Math.max(siny, -0.9999), 0.9999);
+        const xWorld = param['tile_size'] * (0.5 + param['long'] / 360);
+        const yWorld =
+          param['tile_size'] *
+          (0.5 - Math.log((1 + siny) / (1 - siny)) / (4 * Math.PI));
+
+        const scale = 1 << param['z'];
+
+        const xTile = Math.floor((xWorld * scale) / param['tile_size']);
+        const yTile = Math.floor((yWorld * scale) / param['tile_size']);
+
+        const xPixel = Math.floor(xWorld * scale) - xTile * param['tile_size'];
+        const yPixel = Math.floor(yWorld * scale) - yTile * param['tile_size'];
+        if (
+          xPixel < 0 ||
+          yPixel < 0 ||
+          xPixel >= param['tile_size'] ||
+          yPixel >= param['tile_size']
+        ) {
+          return reject('Out of bounds Pixel');
+        }
+        const imgdata = context.getImageData(xPixel, yPixel, 1, 1);
+        const red = imgdata.data[0];
+        const green = imgdata.data[1];
+        const blue = imgdata.data[2];
+        let elevation;
+        if (param['encoding'] === 'mapbox') {
+          elevation = -10000 + (red * 256 * 256 + green * 256 + blue) * 0.1;
+        } else if (param['encoding'] === 'terrarium') {
+          elevation = red * 256 + green + blue / 256 - 32768;
+        } else {
+          elevation = 'invalid encoding';
+        }
+        param['elevation'] = elevation;
+        param['red'] = red;
+        param['green'] = green;
+        param['blue'] = blue;
+        resolve(param);
+      };
+      image.onerror = (err) => reject(err);
+      if (param['format'] === 'webp') {
+        try {
+          const img = await sharp(data).toFormat('png').toBuffer();
+          image.src = img;
+        } catch (err) {
+          reject(err);
+        }
+      } else {
+        image.src = data;
+      }
+    });
+  },
 };
diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index 682e07e9e..468b71337 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -24,13 +24,12 @@ import {
 } from './utils.js';
 
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
-const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
-const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
+const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
 const packageJson = JSON.parse(
   fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/../package.json', 'utf8'),
 );
-
 const isLight = packageJson.name.slice(-6) === '-light';
+
 const serve_rendered = (
   await import(`${!isLight ? `./serve_rendered.js` : `./serve_light.js`}`)
 ).serve_rendered;
@@ -575,11 +574,14 @@ async function start(opts) {
           tileJSON.encoding === 'terrarium' ||
           tileJSON.encoding === 'mapbox'
         ) {
-          data.elevation_link = getTileUrls(
-            req,
-            tileJSON.tiles,
-            `data/${id}/elevation`,
-          )[0];
+          if (!isLight) {
+            data.elevation_link = getTileUrls(
+              req,
+              tileJSON.tiles,
+              `data/${id}/elevation`,
+            )[0];
+          }
+          data.is_terrain = true;
         }
         if (center) {
           const centerPx = mercator.px([center[0], center[1]], center[2]);
@@ -698,6 +700,7 @@ async function start(opts) {
       is_terrain: is_terrain,
       is_terrainrgb: data.tileJSON.encoding === 'mapbox',
       terrain_encoding: data.tileJSON.encoding,
+      is_light: isLight,
     };
   });