Talk:Tag:waterway=drain

There is a problem with the drain classification. It is useful to distinguish between a natural river and artificial drainage channel but mapnik assumes that a drain is narrow which is wrong. For example the South Forty Foot Drain in the Fens is, surprise, surprise, 40' wide. I am about to change the Cut Off Drain near Mildenhall to river as it will then be rendered at an appropriate width. Malcolm Boura 21:39, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

A lot of drains - including many in the Fens *are* very narrow - possibly even narrow enough to jump over. The large drains - the Forty Foot Drain, the Hundred Foot Washes etc. - are more like canals than most drains. I think the waterway=drain tag is probably designed for drainage ditches - e.g. see here, rather than something like this. Richard B 23:49, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

drain vs. ditch

How do I decide between the two? The pictures and descriptions look very similar.