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be merged in here? Based on our discussion in topography, we want to have one article for topography (the study of relief/terrain/landforms/land surface), one article for terrain as a descriptive... perhaps this should all be folded into landforms? We will be keeping geomorphology separate.\
Land surface does seem like it's just a technical term for terrain, so it should probably be merged. Though some of the material there is probably more appropriate for topography, since it describes how terrain is charted, which is something the topography article already covers in some depth. -- Beland06:21, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Aren't there other attributes to "terrain" in addition to elevation, such as soil stability or biological factors? For instance, we might say that some terrain is "rough" if it is swampy instead of being paved. -- Beland06:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It's a point. At some point we start slipping to the old definition of topography as a generalized description of place. But I think the general sense of micro texture you suggest makes sense. I'd say it make sense to put it in...--Natcase04:34, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
"Relief", in its strict geographical sense, currently redirects here. A clear statement of what it means is needed, I think (I don't think it warrants its own article?). I'll add something ASAP. DanHobley (talk) 20:29, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"In America, topography has recently become an additional synonym, though in many parts of the world it retains its original more general meaning of description of place."
Purely anecdotal I know, but I've never known anyone in American to confuse topography with a specific land description. It's certainly not a colloquial synonym as this introduction states (without any citation). No one thinks to themselves, "Oh, I can't find a topographical map of a salt flat because such a thing doesn't exist." They just think, "Wow, that's probably an incredibly boring looking map with very few to no identifying features to help guide me from point A to point B." The relationship does exist, but it's simply that relief is one of the most important descriptive aspects of topography for any hiker, backpacker, mountaineer, etc (along with water and vegetation of course). It is not however, a synonym or (I believe from my experience with people who care about topography) generally misunderstood as one. 71.195.177.23 (talk) 07:54, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
On further reflection it seemed reasonable to scrap it entirely (the intro has been flagged for a while now and no one has even brought it up in Talk). 71.195.177.23 (talk) 07:57, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
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