What is vertical distance?

• A. The contour interval
• B. The distance between the highest and lowest points measured
• C. The distance along the ground between two points
• D. The horizontal difference between east-west coordinates

Answer: (B)

Vertical distance is the difference in elevation between two points. It tells you how much the terrain rises or falls, measured straight up or down in height, not how far apart the points are on the ground or how far east-west they are mapped. For example, if one point is at 2,000 feet and another at 1,600 feet, the vertical distance between them is 400 feet. This is different from the contour interval, which is the fixed vertical step between contour lines on a map, and not the actual elevation difference itself. It’s also not the ground distance (which would be the straight-line distance along the terrain) or the horizontal coordinate difference.