Proposal talk:Tag:natural=mean low water springs

Good idea +1

Thanks for making this proposal. While I'm still working on getting the natural=coastline approximately right in my area, there are many places with strong tidal variation where mappers are already mapping the low tide line as the end of the natural=beach or natural=wetland area, so it would be easy to add natural=mean_low_water_springs to this line. I've noticed this especially around Britain, where there are many wide tidal flats, beaches and salt marshes. While it is more difficult to precisely verify the mean low water springs line than the coastline (=mean high water springs), since this line is underwater 99% of the time, in areas where the tidal sea is very shallow you can often see the approximate low tide line on aerial imagery, so I believe mappers will able to approximate this line in many cases, even if it will not usually be the precise "mean low water springs" line. This is the same situation as the natural=coastline, theoretically it's the exact mean high water springs line, but in practice it's estimated by looking where the wet sand ends on a beach, or for lines of driftwood or seaweed, and other such clues. --Jeisenbe (talk) 03:47, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

Good! I'll start using it, as there are many beaches and tidal flats around me. --Iagocasabiell (talk) 01:01, 7 September 2019 (UTC)

I agree this is a great proposal. Is there any open data that could be used to get a surveyed line for MLWS? I see great potential in the OpenSeaMap project, but atm (speaking as an occasional sailor) the prospect of an estimated/guesstimated MLWS line means I'm not likely to trust OSM when on a boat. eteb3 (talk) 10:20, 9 September 2020 (UTC)