What a Relief! Topography for Dummies

Topography and Relief

If scientific illiteracy weren't so disturbing, the science types here at the Antisocial Network would find hilarity in the way some liberal arts majors turned freelancers flail about when faced with a technical question. Unfortunately, the dross they've published on the internet gets mixed in with more accurate information, which is at best confusing to people seeking information and at worst dangerous. Today's example, fortunately, is from the confusing end of the spectrum: English major (BA, MFA) Enrica Jang tackled the simple question, "How Are Relief and Topography Related?"¹ and ended up writing a truly pitiful post at eHow.com...

Jang wrestled for quite a while to answer this question, although in fact she never did explain that relief is the difference between the highest and lowest elevations in an area. Despite this simple answer, Enrica thrashed and flailed interminably, opening with that staple of the confused writer, a dictionary definition that (sort of) contained the answer!

"Topography is defined by Mirriam-Webster [sic] Online Dictionary as the 'configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its natural and man-made features.' Relief is a part of topography, referring to the elevations and depression characteristics of a surface." We laughed uproariously at that second sentence, of course... and then Jang got down to business, explaining that, among other half-baked or fully fallacious facts,

• Topographic maps are flat. If a map also reflects relief, the map will show the degree of elevation or depression of features in relation to the horizontal plain [sic] of the land.
• Relief will be relative to size and scale of the map, showing the height in relation to the lowest and highest points of the shown surface. [this is as close as she gets...]
• Relief maps are sometimes referred to as "contour maps" though contour maps are only one type of relief map.
• Topography and relief are often grouped together when discussing land features. 
• Land topography may change, affecting emergency, flood and disaster planning... Relief is directly affected in relation to topographic conditions.

All that and Enrica never actually defined "relief." Neither did she mention how the two terms are related. If that's not the sort of useless information and mindless flailing in the weeds that should earn Jang a Dumbass of the Day award, we don't know what is.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/facts_6030805_relief-topography-related_.html

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