  We present an unexpected connection between two map enumeration problems. The
first one consists in counting planar maps with a boundary of prescribed
length. The second one consists in counting planar maps with two points at a
prescribed distance. We show that, in the general class of maps with controlled
face degrees, the solution for both problems is actually encoded into the same
quantity, respectively via its power series expansion and its continued
fraction expansion. We then use known techniques for tackling the first problem
in order to solve the second. This novel viewpoint provides a constructive
approach for computing the so-called distance-dependent two-point function of
general planar maps. We prove and extend some previously predicted exact
formulas, which we identify in terms of particular Schur functions.
