Suppose you're simply trying to slide a block into an opening, or under a "bridge" of some sort, perhaps 100 mm high. You can't let the total envelope of the block exceed the 100 mm clearance of that bridge, but for reasons of weight restriction maybe you can't let the block's "actual local size" exceed 90 mm. Therefore, you can allow flatness on the median plane to be 10 mm; thus it's totally different than surface flatness.
John-Paul Belanger
Certified Sr. GD&T Professional
Geometric Learning Systems