Waterways
 Feature page: Waterways
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| Description |
| Areas of water including rivers, canals, streams, lake and reservoirs |
| Tags |
| waterway=river waterway=stream natural=lake landuse=reservoir bridge=* |
Waterways include rivers, canals and streams, as well also lakes, reservoirs and docks. Related features include locks, weirs, rapids. Please do not be daunted by all the options, just creating a simple way tagged only with waterway=river is a great start; adding a single additional tag is also useful. Leave others to add all the related tags if they so wish.
Contents |
Linear water features: rivers, canals, streams etc
All rivers, canals and streams should normally be represented as a linear way using waterway=river, waterway=canal or waterway=stream. The way used should point in the direction of water flow. name=* can be used for the name of the watercourse if known. The boat=* tag can be used to specify if boats are allowed to use the watercourse. Point features used along to watercourses include: waterway=weir, waterway=dam and highway=ford. The section of waterway within a lock between the lock gates can be tagged with lock=* with node tagged waterway=lock_gate at each end. The name of the lock can be added using lock_name=* and/or lock_ref=*. A tidal section of river can be tagged with tidal=yes and if it is intermittent use intermittent=yes. If a stream starts as as spring, the node can be tagged with natural=spring.
A footpath beside a river can be tagged with highway=footway or highway=cycleway, etcetera as appropriate. Use the width=* to give the river width (in meters) and wikipedia=* for a link to a related Wikipedia page.
Wide rivers, lakes, reservoirs and islands
In addition to a linear description of the watercourse, the riverbanks for wider rivers and canals can be defined in one of two ways. The simpler method is to create an area feature for each section of river and tag it with waterway=riverbank joined using a pair of shared nodes with the adjoining section. Another way of tagging longer or more complex rivers and water bodies is to use multiple ways and an associated multipolygon relation.
At certain points along a larger river the area may take on the appearance of a lake. For lakes, most mappers have used the tag natural=water. We also now have natural=lake. For a reservoir (an artificially created body or water which typically has a dam at the downstream end) use landuse=reservoir.
Enclosed areas of water for shipping and other craft where the water level can be controlled by lock-gates or similar should be tagged with waterway=dock. It is a matter of judgement sometimes as to where a section of water is a wide river or a long thin lake/reservoir.
Islands in lakes/ponds etc should be tagged with the appropriate landuse=* and will ideally be described as a 'inner' area by a multi-polygon. Islands can in turn contain lakes and stream etc as well as other features.
Man-made structures
Where a river or stream goes under a road, railway or similar the upper way should be tagged with bridge=yes and layer=1, or alternatively tag the watercourse with layer=-1 and tunnel=yes or tunnel=culvert (used for streams and drains). Where a canal is carried over an aqueduct the way should be tagged with bridge=aqueduct.
Use man_made=pier for structures projecting out over the water and add a mooring=yes tag if boats can be moored alongside.
Tag water towers using man_made=water_tower and pipelines with man_made=pipeline and also type=water, type=drain or type=sewer as appropriate. For sewage treatment plant use man_made=wastewater_plant. Hydro plants should be tagged with power=generator and generator:source=hydro.
Coastline
See Coastline for details of how to map the border between land and the sea, together with natural=beach, natural=cliff and natural=wetlandto describe the shoreline. See marine navigation, harbour and leisure=marina for features relating to shipping.
Other
- amenity=drinking_water for a drink water tap
- natural=glacier
Proposals
Various proposals.
- Proposed_features/measurement_station
- User Skippern Making a collection of tags, suggested tags, and proposals to tag within the INT 1 symbol standard for Nautical Charts.
See also
- Relation:waterway Creating a relation for the complete length of a river
- WikiProject_Rivers
- WikiProject Whitewater Maps Mapping rivers for whitewater sports
