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Elevation measurements are essential for many natural resource activities including hydrologic modeling, viewshed analysis, and forest road and trail engineering design. We collected elevation measurements with five identically configured mapping-grade global positioning system (GPS) receivers at two distinctly different test courses within a forest. Our primary objectives were to quantify the accuracy and reliability of GPS elevation measurements within two distinctly different environmental settings and to examine the influence of different data collection approaches. One test course was established within a forest clearing and had a generally unobstructed view of the overhead sky while the other course was mostly covered by forest canopy. We collected measurements using several different data groupings (1, 30, and 60s intervals) and calculated the elevation error of all GPS receiver measurements for both …