How to interpret elevation gain in route summary

Tristan Stanic shared this question ago

Answered

Using LocusMap Pro 3.39.4 on Android Pie

When designing a route. I'd like to estimate the elevation gain and slopes. Mostly to determine if it is worth to bring hiking sticks.

In the attached screenshots, LocusMap_RouteStatistics.png shows:

Elevation loss: -151m
Elevation gain: 148 m

Intuitively I deduce that the absolute elevation gain is: 148 - (-151) = 148 + 151 = 299 m

However, the screenshot LocusMap_RouteChart.png shows that the max elevation - mini elevation is roughly 60m (351m - 290m)

Files:

The same question

Replies (3)

Tristan Stanic ●

The statistics of a recording also makes no sense about elevation gain:

Elevation loss: -246m
Elevation gain: 242m
Min Altitude: 248m
Max Altitude: 291m

I just walked that trail today. There is absolutely no way there could be 242m in elevation gain. And even less true for elevation loss. However the min/max altitude seems plausible.

What is Locus' definition of an elevation gain? Because if this is the difference of max - min altitude of the entire route, then there is a bug in the app (Locus Map pro 3.39.4, Sep 2019) in the way it calculate elevation gain/loss.

Files:

URL

Michal Stupka ●

Hi Tristan,

elevation gain is not subtraction of the lowest elevation from the highest one. It is a total sum of ALL meters walked upwards. Elevation loss is the opposite. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulative_elevation_gain.

best regards

Michal, Locus team

URL

Tristan Stanic ●

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. Now that explains everything. It turns out this is just the confusion on the definition of "elevation gain".

I was used to the AllTrails app where elevation gain = max altitude - min altitude. The same info could be obtained from Locus route statistic altitude values.

URL