Originally Posted By billstephenson
A GPS, does not add elevation profiles to your distance, it measures point to point.

You could climb a ladder that's a mile high and still not have moved a bit from your starting lat/long, and your GPS will tell you that have traveled zero feet, as it should.


GPS most certainly does measure elevation (its not as accurate as longitude and latitude though!). Whether you are delivering bombs to a target or airplanes to a runway, the elevation is very important. See how smooth of a landing a plane would have trying to land at sea level at Denver International Airport. Horizontal distance traversed has very little meaning outside a 2-dimensional map.