What does the cardinal direction output from the Distance tool indicate?

The cardinal direction output from the Distance tool indicates the relative position between two points. This means it defines the direction you would need to travel to move from one point to another, expressed in terms of standard geographical cardinal directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, etc.). Understanding this relative position is crucial in applications like route planning, geographic information systems (GIS), and spatial analysis, where knowing not just how far apart two points are, but also in which direction they lie from one another is essential for effective decision-making and strategy development. Cardinal directions assist in interpreting the spatial relationship in a way that is intuitive and applicable to navigation and location-based scenarios.