Key:waterway

waterway
Description
The waterway tag is used to mark rivers or other kind of waterways.
Group: Waterways
Used on these elements
Documented values: 39
Useful combination
name=*
Wikidata
Q1267889
Status: de facto
Tools for this tag
taginfo · CH · CZ · FR · GB · HU · IE · IN · JP · PL overpass-turbo

The waterway key is used to describe rivers, streams and boat-yards with a flow of water from one place to another.

Usage

See also: Waterways, Relation:waterway

By definition, a waterway is assumed to have a direction of flow. The direction of the way should be downstream (from the waterway's source to its mouth).

For small waterways, a way indicating a direction of flow and its path is sufficient. When a waterway becomes wide enough that mapping the area it flows through is desired.

If a waterway way is known to not have water flow year round, it should always be tagged with intermittent=yes. (Non-permanent flow can be further described with the seasonal=* tag to describe when a flow of water exists, but intermittent=yes should still be present in these cases.)

If a waterway is named from its source to its destination, it's strongly suggested that all of its ways be placed in a waterway relation. Doing this allows Nominatim to group the ways together and return exactly one named result per named waterway that exists in OpenStreetMap.

Values

The main waterway=* values are distinguished according to the flowing regime as follow:

	Free flow			Pipe flow
Man made	Open air	Culvert	Tunnel		Pipeline
	canal (useful water)			pressurised
	ditch
	drain (superflous water)
Natural	Open air	cave
	river
	stream
	tidal_channel

The only questions to ask to get the difference between Free flow and Pipe flow is Does water flow inside a closed space and can air get inside the conduit? If yes, the water can't be pipe flow and you'll have to choose for an according waterway=* value from the table.
Even if waterway=* values can be refined or replaced, it would be really nice to preserve the distinction between free/open channel and pipe flow features. It's really important data for water management and resource planning.

Key	Value	Element	Comment	carto Rendering	Photo
Natural watercourses
waterway	river		For narrow rivers which will be rendered as a line. For larger rivers see also waterway=riverbank (Other languages).
waterway	riverbank		Used for larger rivers in addition to waterway=river, to define an area between the opposite riverbanks. Also see water=river with natural=water.
waterway	stream		A naturally-formed waterway that is too narrow to be classed as a river. An active, able-bodied person should be able to jump over it.
waterway	tidal_channel		A natural tidal waterway within the coastal marine environment with bi-directional flow of salty water which depends on the tides.
waterway	wadi		A natural, dry (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream, in semi-arid areas. Also known as a "Wash" in the deserts of America. It has been recommended to stop using this tag. For intermittent waterways use waterway=river/waterway=stream + intermittent=yes. For valleys natural=valley.
waterway	drystream		Dry stream bed - negative forms of erosion relief formed by the activity of temporary streams. Don't use this tag. For intermittent waterways use waterway=stream + intermittent=yes. For valleys use natural=valley.
Man made waterways
waterway	canal		An artificial open flow waterway used to carry useful water for transportation, waterpower, or irrigation. (Other languages).
waterway	pressurised		A waterway where water is flowing in a fully enclosed conduit and subject to pressure; this includes gravity-driven penstocks and siphons and pump-driven pipelines, for example.
waterway	drain		An artificial free flow waterway used for carrying superfluous water like storm water or industrial discharge, usually lined with concrete, stones or similar.
waterway	ditch		An small artificial free flow waterway used for carrying superfluous water for drainage purposes, usually unlined.
waterway	fairway		A navigable route in a lake or sea marked by buoys. The navigable area marked by the buoys can be mapped with seamark:type=fairway.
Facilities
waterway	dock		An 'enclosed' area of water used for building or repairing ships.
waterway	boatyard		Boat yard – a place for constructing, repairing and storing vessels out of the water.
Barriers on waterways
waterway	dam		A wall built across a river or stream to impound the water. A dam normally does not have water flowing over the top of it.
waterway	weir		A barrier built across a river to control speed and depth. Water can still flow over the top.
waterway	waterfall		A waterfall, use in combination with natural=cliff
waterway	lock_gate		To mark the position of gates at each end of a lock. Alternatively, for smaller locks use a single lock=yes node in the middle of the lock.
Other features on waterways
waterway	turning_point		A place to turn the driving direction for vessels, where the boats are longer than the river/canal is wide. Use maxlength=* to denote the maximum length of the vessel.
waterway	water_point		A place to fill fresh water holding tanks of a boat.
waterway	fuel		A place to get fuel for boats.
Some additional attributes for waterways
intermittent	yes		Indicates that the waterway is sometimes dry and sometimes contains water.
seasonal	yes, spring, summer, autumn, winter, wet_season, dry_season		Indicates that a waterway has a seasonal (yearly cyclic) flow, usually flowing continuously for at least some part of the year.
destination	name		Name of the body of water the linear feature flows into.
lock	yes	()	A lock is used for moving boats between waterways at two different levels. Can tag either the section of the way between the gates (detailed) or just a single node in the waterway (less detailed).
mooring	yes, private, no		A length of bank where boats are explicitly permitted to moor. maxstay=* should be used for timing information.
usage	transmission, irrigation, headrace, tailrace, penstock		A waterway=canal may have one (or more; separate with semicolons) uses.
tunnel	culvert	()	A short tunnel usually installed under roads, railways or building. Its size doesn't allow human to get inside and is as narrow as the structure is supposed to go under. For streams passing under a road in culverts use tunnel=culvert+layer=-1 on the section of stream passing under the road. Don't use either of these tags for streams passing under bridges.
tunnel	flooded		A long (> 100 m) tunnel where flowing water or other fluid prevent humans from safely walking inside despite its appropriate diameter or size. Water inside can be pressurised or not, used in combination with any waterway=* linear value.
bridge	aqueduct		A bridge which conveys an artificial waterway over a road, valley or another waterway.
waterway	user defined		All commonly used values according to Taginfo

Possible Tagging Mistakes

See Man made waterways above for better alternatives.

• man_made=waterway

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!