How To: Make Vertical Measurements in the Profile Viewing Window of a 3D Scene without the

Summary

The default side-on viewpoint in the profile viewing window can make it difficult to accurately measure vertical distances because the cursor must be directly on the clipped segment of ground surface or else it will jump to mean seal level. To fix this, it can be beneficial to change the tilt/orientation of the viewing window so that the ground surface can be seen.

Procedure

Consider a scenario where you have an LAS dataset and you would like to make vertical measurements of features like buildings, bridges, etc.

Select a specific area of interest using the Create button to open the Profile Viewing window similar to the following image.
See the ArcGIS Pro documentation: Profile Viewing.

At first glance, it looks like this side-on viewpoint would be the best way to view the data and make a measurement from the top of the roof to the ground surface. However, this may be difficult because the cursor must be directly over the clipped segment of ground surface when clicking an area to measure or else it will jump below the surface to mean sea level. See the following image as an example:

To fix this, tilt the 3D viewing window so that the ground surface can be clearly seen. Then be sure to click that ground surface segment while dragging the cursor up and/or down to make a measurement, as shown in the following images.