The terms "up" and "down" in the Book of Mormon literally mean up in altitude and down in altitude. They were used with complete consistency in this context. Consistency was checked against the direction of flow in the river Sidon, ridges, mountains, and wilderness areas. This is not a new discovery, rather a clarification where some authors have not interpreted these terms correctly. They were also tested against "up" meaning north and "down" meaning south. There was no consistency using these meanings to indicate north or south. In fact, if these were the meanings, then their use contradicted their meaning in a number of verses. For example, there were references to "up" in some verses that indicated the action was heading south as in the reference between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi in Omni 1:48 [1:27] "And now, I would speak somewhat concerning a certain number who went up into the wilderness, to return to the land of Nephi." The land of Zarahemla is north of the land of Nephi and verified by several verses, yet if "up" meant north, then this verse would put the land of Nephi north of the land of Zarahemla.

"Up" and "down" become important terms it confirm the elevation of the geography. It was used to determine the direction that the river Sidon was flowing and confirming that the term "over" referred to ridges.