Can you find out how "high" an avatar is?

Just a coupel of times in the past I've been having problems in an area (lag, clothing not showing right etc etc.......) and thought I'd ask an avatar nearby (on the minimap) to find out if it's just me. But once in a while they seems to be no-one there.
Meaning either the minimap is not correct or perhaps it's a height issue.

Is there any way of getting like a 3D view of avatars on a sim, to shop you spending ages trying to find the person to talk to?

I think you will find that the avatar is in fact there but that he or she is at a much higher or lower altitude or at a distance that is too high for the draw distance setting on your client to properly render him or her. Folks often choose to hide away in sky-boxes well above the usual altitude so that they can work/make out without interruption from casual passers-by. Alternatively, you may find that you have teleported to a sky-box and that the party you want to locate is far below on the ground level.

Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, I understand about the draw distance and also the "go to a skybox for some quiet" aspect as I do that also.
As I said, it's just that only on perhaps 1 or 2 occasions (normally when SL is having major tech probs) I have just wanted to quicky ask someone nearby if it's just me, or they are having probs also and once of twice I could not find them.

Nothing major. Was just wondering.

At the moment the mini map only accurately shows 1024 meters vertically. If you're somewhere around 20m, and someone else is above 1024m, the mini map will act as if the other person's at 0m

You could try a scripted radar attachment, Argent Stonecutter's comes to mind, I think it's called Otter Radar

If you look at the mini map it will show up/down arrows.
the other avatars are that way from your current camera position/height.
meaning if you move your camera up/down it will turn to a dot when you get to their height then use the view angle as a ste of cross hairs to find someone.

hope that helps

:0 wave a bag of potato chips in front of them.

oh wait, s'not whatcha mean...

In conjunction with using the up down indicators on the mini-map you might use a flight aid so you can fly up and down real fast. Regular flying is very slow. A scanner is only supposed to work to a range of 96 meters, I think, so while it might help, it wouldn't be supposed to find someone very far away vertically.