  We present a first determination of distances and extinctions for individual
stars in the first release of the APOKASC catalogue, built from the joint
efforts of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)
and the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC). Our method takes into
account the spectroscopic constraints derived from the APOGEE Stellar
Parameters and Chemical Abundances Pipeline, together with the asteroseismic
parameters from KASC. These parameters are then employed to estimate intrinsic
stellar properties, including absolute magnitudes, using the Bayesian tool
PARAM. We then find the distance and extinction that best fit the observed
photometry in SDSS, 2MASS, and WISE passbands. The first 1989 giants targeted
by APOKASC are found at typical distances between 0.5 and 5 kpc, with
individual uncertainties of just ~1.8 per cent. Our extinction estimates are
systematically smaller than provided in the Kepler Input Catalogue and by the
Schlegel, Finkbeiner and Davis maps. Distances to individual stars in the NGC
6791 and NGC 6819 star clusters agree to within their credible intervals.
Comparison with the APOGEE red clump and SAGA catalogues provide another useful
check, exhibiting agreement with our measurements to within a few percent.
Overall, present methods seem to provide excellent distance and extinction
determinations for the bulk of the APOKASC sample. Approximately one third of
the stars present broad or multiple-peaked probability density functions and
hence increased uncertainties. Uncertainties are expected to be reduced in
future releases of the catalogue, when a larger fraction of the stars will have
seismically-determined evolutionary status classifications.
