Geology vs. Higher Power - Your Opinion Welcome

[Redrobes]

I write GeoTerSys - the Geological Terrain Simulator - so I am firmly in one of the camps. To my eye, noise just does not seem to generate realistic looking terrain. However I know that people want to put down the terrain features in specific places so my GTS starts with a user input height field and works on it to try to 'improve' it based on geological processes. Tho it has some success, actually getting proper geological processes working on a small computer is quite hard work. There are no strict mathematical formulas to apply, its more like a set of heuristics derived as guesses on what is happening to the ground. Its an impossible task that you can only approach a good answer. The real world is too complex to model accurately enough but I try all the same.

[MTGEmperor]

Redrobes, I would like to thank you for your insight.

Do not get me wrong, folks; I do a little of both myself, but I tend to be more geological than fantasy based.
Of course, I would like to mention that I do not firmly believe that map-making is a science tool. It is another form of art that I can bring forth to the world, along with my photography and my writing.