Tag:natural=heath

From OpenStreetMap Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Public-images-osm logo.svg natural = heath
Lüneburger Heide 109.jpg
Description
A dwarf-shrub habitat, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. Show/edit corresponding data item.
Rendering in OSM Carto
Rendering-area-natural-heath-yellow.png
Group: Natural
Used on these elements
should not be used on nodesshould not be used on waysmay be used on areasshould not be used on relations
Useful combination
See also
Status: de facto

The tag natural=heath is used to map areas of heath or heathland: a dwarf-shrub habitat, characterized by open, low-growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae (Heather). The tag natural=heath can be applied to any similar habitat worldwide.[1]

How to map

Draw an area and add natural=heath.

Mapping caveats

This tag should not be used for:

  • parks which happen to be named "something heath" (e.g., "Hampstead Heath"; quite common in England). A park should be tagged leisure=park, leisure=nature_reserve or boundary=protected_area as appropriate, even if it has "heath" in the name. Only if it is genuinely a heath fitting the description above (and not primarily regarded as a normal public park) then use this tag.
  • areas dominated by taller shrubs – use natural=scrub instead.
  • areas primarily covered by herbaceous (non-woody) plants like grasses – use natural=grassland or landuse=meadow, if used for grazing, instead.

Examples

Here are various examples from different ecosystems – what can be seen in the foreground in those can commonly be mapped as natural=heath.

Rendering

Rendering-area-natural-heath-yellow.png

See also

Notes

External links