Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Martian Geography

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 This article is part of WikiProject Martian Geography, an attempt to improve and standardise articles related to geographical features of Mars. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
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[edit] Name

Uh, maybe you should just do Wikipedia:WikiProject Mars? This seems a little specific, walk before you run.--HereToHelp 13:25, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

There are still a lot of relevent articles --GW_Simulations 18:18, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


I dont see the point, the list articles seem to give enough encyclopedic information necessary. Maybe wait until we colonize mars and your great, great grandchildren can start on such a project. – Tutmøsis (Talk) 17:21, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
Firstly, many articles haven't been created yet, and secondly, more can be added.
The only thing to add to the lists, I would suggest is coordinates. – Tutmøsis (Talk) 17:22, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
I was going to suggest that that came under location. That way, it doesn't matter if exact co-ordinates are unknown. --GW_Simulations 18:18, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


If an article isn't featured, it can still use work. Even if it is featured, it can use work. So start with just Mars (which is not featured). You're thinking too small.--HereToHelp 20:48, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

An excellent source of information on Martian geography is the well researched trilogy of novels by Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. Rick Norwood 21:21, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thoughts

First, I don't think this is thinking too small. Mars as a topic is enormous: probes, in culture etc. Limiting this too geography is a good idea.

The first thing that needs doing is deciding on a uniform system of longitude. I think we should go with 0-360°, East only, as this seems to be the way of the future [1]. Google Mars, perhaps unfortunately, has decided to use 0-180°, East and West both. I would like opinions here as I've started four articles in two days and want to be sure I'm doing what others will do. Note if you have a west coordinate, simply subtract it from 360 and turn it into east.

Also, I've added Category:Terrae on Mars and a List of Terrae on Mars, derived from Google Mars. These are the large regions on Mars.

One general question, as well: is it best to have thousands of stubs, or larger articles absorbing many simple objects? Google Mars, for instance, has 800+ craters listed. Do we need an article for every one? If not, what do we do instead? Marskell 16:00, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

    • Good Question. I'm not entirley sure - it's down to the editor really. Personally, I prefer stubs, but others prefer to go into more detail. I think that a combination of the two would make for a more effective project (someone to create stubs, someone else to fill them out. --GW_Simulations 18:39, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Problem with Template

While adding the crater template to Endurance (crater), I noticed that the image would be pushed to the left and the text beneath to the right. Someone care to investigate and/or fix the problem? -- Riffsyphon1024 09:01, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

  • After using the mountain template, the images centered fine in them, but the crater template continues to boggle me. -- Riffsyphon1024 09:47, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
    • Ah, found and fixed the problem. It was lacking the colspan=2 align=center| code to center the image properly. Should have known all along. -- Riffsyphon1024 09:50, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Similar Project

I've been working on a similar project to have an article for all named featured on Saturn's moon Enceladus. I completed that project last year, but the templates on this wikiproject's main page has given me great ideas for these Enceladus articles. I have ported the templates to work for Enceladus (see Sarandib Planitia for an example). It was suggested above that perhaps this should be made Wikiproject Mars, but perhaps this could go the other way, and made into Wikiproject ...Solar System Geography (or something similar). Certainly the templates used for this project could be made more general (by removing the category line in the templates) so they can be used for named features on other worlds. --Volcanopele 19:19, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree. This shouldn't be limited to Mars, though it has the most features of any one planet or moon besides Earth. But we could make Mars a subproject of a Solar System Wikiproject, if the creator of this project agrees. -- Riffsyphon1024 04:03, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
    • Btw, very cool that you are on the Cassini Imaging Team itself. An added bonus in the land of Wikipedia. -- Riffsyphon1024 04:15, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A template

Now that the vandals have disappeared for the time being, it's time to consider whether or not to have a project template, much like the ones here that we could stick on the talk pages of our better articles. I would like ideas for icons and whether we should accept the boilerplate wording or not. MER-C 07:41, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Done, see User:MER-C/Martian Geography. MER-C 10:40, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

I plan on starting tagging on the weekend, so this is the last opportunity (no pun intended) to raise any concerns. MER-C 12:00, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

All done. MER-C 03:52, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Martian Geography???

This whole project is based on assumption that geography means the study of places, which is not. Geography is actualy study of Earth. "Geo" means Earth, so the term Martian Geography is actually misnomer.

Yeah, but "Wikiproject Areography" is somewhat obscure because not everyone knows what "areography" is. Martian Geography is unambigious to the uninitiated. (P.S. I encourage you to join - most of the time there's nobody here except when there aren't vandals for me to whack). MER-C 12:15, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
  • Areology was a new term to me until I saw it in use here. So it might be worth keeping geography for the time being. -- Riffsyphon1024 16:21, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
While "Martian Geography" may technically be a misnomer, there really isn't a suitable alternative in common usage. In planetary sciences, terms such as geography and geology, while technically refering to the Earth in the etmology of their names, have taken on a more generic connotation: Geology refering to surfical processes, and geography refering to the study of places. --Volcanopele 18:59, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Martian Geography vs. Geography of Mars vs. Areography

it's been suggested that Talk:Areography that we move the page to Geography of Mars.. it seems like a reasonable idea, as per Wikipedia:Naming conventions. thoughts? (discuss here) Mlm42 11:36, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stub sorting

Why not create specialty stubs for mars like "MarsCrater stub," "MarsMountain stub," “MarsValley stub,” & “MarsWhatever stub?” As opposed to individually tagging each and every mars crater stub with “mars stub” & “crater stub.”--aceslead 22:02, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

The best way to do it (I think) would be to make {{mars-stub}} a subcategory of {{crater-stub}}. There's also a few Saturnian and Jovian stubs thrown in there too, perhaps a couple more stub types? MER-C 12:45, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Are you going to use Category:Martian craters and Category:Martian crater stubs any more? If not, tag them with {{db-g7}}. And any new stub types must be OKed by WikiProject Stub sorting. MER-C 13:03, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Are there any other page i created and then forgot about?--aceslead 19:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
I encountered a problem when creating the {{MarsCrater-stub}}. I didn’t change anything. Weird. The articles are still in the {{Mars-stub}} and {{crater-stub}}. Any thoughts?--aceslead 20:00, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Did you check in with WP:WSS about this? if so, could you point me to the discussion? Notice that {{crater-stub}} isn't just for craters.. it's for any astrogeological feature.. but it seems you have made {{MarsCrater-stub}} just for Mars craters? in any case, make sure you've gone through the procedure here. Mlm42 08:06, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

The stub discussion is here. It wasn't proposed. MER-C 11:37, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 23:30, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category:Martian stubs is up for renaming

The proposed new name is Category:Mars stubs. Please voice your opinion here. MER-C 10:28, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

*SUPPORT--aceslead 20:16, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Uhh, what I meant by "here" was Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2006/November/7. MER-C 08:06, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
Next time make it clear that you should go to this "LINK".--aceslead 18:18, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Olympus Mons

Hello, I just nominated the Olympus Mons article for the Article Creation and Improvement Drive because I think that that article deserves to be class A. I thought this nomination might be of some interest to you all. Thanks! S.dedalus 06:38, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Working link. I was thinking about nominating Eagle crater and possibly Valles Marineris but haven't got around to doing it since there's still some 850 potential moon stubs for me to tag, articles I want to create, vandals I want to whack and a whole new load of dead ends I want to prod. MER-C 07:47, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Aerography

The happy changing from an to Geology of Mars is back on the agenda! Lets try to get it clear or do a voting or what ever: Aereography as a term has no history and is not used in the science! Is ther anybody who can find a article stating areography is geography of mars? If this is the case we will change it back, but the first discussion yielded nothing and I do not think there will be any proof for Areography being something else than the distribution of animals over a certain area. --Stone 09:35, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

A quick Google search for areography throws up some related stuff. I also remember seeing in the compact (ahem) Oxford dictionary and saw the Martian definition. Here's Wiktionary's definition. There's 8 ghits on various NASA websites. It is borderline compared to the non-notable neologisms I deal with over at AFD.
However I searched through the various Journals of Geophysical Research including JGR-Planets, where most of the Mars related scientific papers get posted and found zippo. There's also zilch on the open access Mars Journal and the MSSS website.
Geography of Mars is a lot less ambigious and more user friendly, though. MER-C 10:35, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
I put some literatur on the talk page of Geography of Mars which show that already biology claims the word. I found nowhere a good source, and because of that the Geography should stay Geography. The template contains the Areology and should also chnaged to Geography of Mars.--Stone 17:53, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Areology is the same problem, but there is no claim from biology!--Stone 18:10, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Roughly the same story, but this one seems to be more prominent: 0 mentions in JGR; 0 ghits at the Mars Journal, 0 ghits at MSSS, 55 ghits at NASA, 10,500 ghits, defined at Wiktionary.
I found this (file type warning: .doc) though. MER-C 05:24, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
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