Aspect
Aspect is the compass direction toward which a slope faces, such as north, southeast or west. It describes which way the ground falls away, and it is separate from the slope itself, which measures how steeply the ground rises over a distance.
Which way the ground falls, named by the compass
Aspect, in the Virginia Department of Forestry's one-line definition, is the compass direction a slope faces. None of the Virginia building, septic or mountain ridge rules cited on this page ties a building decision to that direction, so this entry is about reading the word, not acting on it.
The compass direction towards which a slope faces.
Virginia Department of Forestry glossary, Aspect
Aspect and slope are two different readings of the same piece of ground. The same glossary defines slope, the subject of slope and grade, as a percent: the increase in height over the distance measured. Aspect ignores the steepness entirely and names only the direction. A hillside can be gentle and face north, or steep and face north; the aspect is the same in both cases.
Ridges make the idea concrete. Carroll County's 2024 comprehensive plan says the parallel ridges and valleys of the Ridge and Valley Province, which takes in a small part of the county's northwestern corner, run roughly northeast to southwest. Ground on the two sides of a ridge that runs that way falls off in opposite directions, one side toward the northwest and the other toward the southeast. A tract that crosses such a ridge has at least two aspects, and a tract with a draw or a knoll in it can have several.
Elevation is a third reading, separate from both. A slope has a height above sea level, a steepness and a direction, and each is read from different figures; how high the ground runs in one of these counties is covered in how high Floyd County is. What can be seen from a slope is a fourth question altogether, the one a viewshed describes.
A word in a land description, not a line in the code
Aspect turns up in forestry work, on maps and in land descriptions. It does not turn up in the Virginia septic, building code and mountain ridge rules cited here.
Look at what those rules do measure. The Virginia Department of Health's soil evaluation rule, 12VAC5-610-450, lists what a soil evaluation for a subsurface absorption system considers: physiographic province, topography, available area, degree of slope, and the soil profile. Degree of slope is on that list; direction is not. A site plan under the Uniform Statewide Building Code shows street grades and proposed finished grades, not the direction the lot faces. Virginia's mountain ridge statute works from elevation and building height. In each case the number is steepness, height or distance.
So when a description says a homesite faces a particular way, read it as description. This glossary makes no claim about what a direction does for a house, a garden or a price, because no source cited here supports one. How slope, aspect and the siting of a house, a drive and a septic site fit together on a real tract is set out in slope, aspect and building.
Wondering which way a homesite's slope faces?
Send the county, the road and the acreage, and Lowell will share what the county maps and any plat on file show about that homesite's slopes and which questions belong to a surveyor. No cost, no obligation.
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We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions about this term
Is aspect the same thing as the direction a house faces?
No. Aspect describes the ground: the compass direction a slope falls toward. The direction a house faces is a choice made when the house is placed on the site, and placing a house one way or another does not change the aspect of the slope beneath it.
Can one tract of land have more than one aspect?
Yes. Aspect belongs to each slope, not to a whole property. A tract that crosses a ridge falls away in two directions, one on each side of the crest, and any draw or knoll on the tract adds more.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Glossary: Aspect Virginia Department of Forestry
- Glossary: Slope Virginia Department of Forestry
- 2024 Comprehensive Plan (physiographic provinces and ridge orientation) Carroll County, Virginia
- 12VAC5-610-450: soil evaluations Virginia Department of Health
- 13VAC5-63-90, Uniform Statewide Building Code Section 109: construction documents and the site plan Virginia Administrative Code
- Va. Code 15.2-2295.1: protected mountain ridges Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-402: exemptions, and contours from photogrammetric methods Virginia General Assembly