Originally Posted by Jerseysbest
Depends on the level of detail of the elevation data that the USGS has.
I looked at a route by my house that has a big hill. If I go from point A to point B, it shows a straight line of elevation change. If I go from point A to point B in very small increments, the line represents the hill. So the problem's not the data set, it's the calculation. The only data points used are the start and endpoints.