University of Charleston Marathon Charleston, West Virginia, United States

The distance or elevation data not precisely what you expect for this route?

Data from a GPS device can be rough, especially in areas where the terrain (trees, canyons) interfere with GPS signals. And routes drawn on our maps are reliant on people marking trails from satellite images -- the details of which can be hidden by trees.

Elevation can be tricky too. Elevation data is stored on spaced topographical lines, and determining the elevation of a point requires computers to estimate based on how close the point is to the topographical line.

We mitigate this by calculating distance in 3-D (think Pythagorean theorem) and using mathematical techiniques to smooth the elevation data. We come close, but no one can be perfect with imperfect data, even in 2026.