Why it matters?

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CliffMetrics matters because identifying cliff‑top and cliff‑toe positions is far less straightforward than it first appears. Real coastlines are messy: slopes blend into each other, vegetation and land use obscure breaks in slope, and digital elevation models introduce their own quirks. CliffMetrics was built to help users navigate this complexity by providing a quick, transparent, and easy‑to‑tune workflow that lets them test different settings and choose the combination that best reflects their own interpretation of where the cliff actually begins and ends. Rather than forcing a single “correct” answer, it gives users control, flexibility, and reproducibility. This approach has been used at national scale, including in the NCERM2 project, to support consistent and defensible cliff‑line mapping across the UK.