Tag:natural=saddle
 natural = saddle
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The lowest point along a ridge or between two mountain tops 
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| Rendering in openstreetmap-carto |
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| Group: Natural |
| Used on these elements |
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| Useful combination |
| See also |
| Wikidata |
| Q10862618 |
Status: approved
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A saddle between mountains (topographic saddle) is the area around a saddle point. A saddle point is the lowest point along a ridge or between two mountain tops and the highest point between adjacent valleys or lowlands. The saddle is often a drainage divide between different watersheds.
In general usage another name for saddle is pass or mountain pass (see Wikipedia). However, the term pass is ambiguous. A pass or mountain pass can be a saddle as well as a travelway like the Brennerpass between Italy and Austria with roads, railway, tracks and paths.
Unlike in common usage OpenStreetMap clearly differentiates between these two meanings. The notion introduced here is the saddle. For the highway see mountain_pass=*. Be aware that highways don't always lead exactly through the saddle point, so that the highest point of the highway and the saddle point may have different positions and elevations, especially in low mountain ranges and uplands.
Saddle points are frequently used for defining administrative borders of states, provinces etc.
Usage
A saddle is marked by tagging its saddle point.
- natural=saddle
- name=Älpelesattel
- ele=1772 Elevation of the saddle point; height above sea level in metres.
- direction=north Cardinal direction of the line connecting the valleys on the sides of the saddle point.
Appearance
Depending on the zoom level there appears a symbol (
), the name and the elevation. (See also: natural=peak)
Example rendering
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See also
- mountain_pass=*
- Saddle (landform) on Wikipedia
Possible tagging mistakes
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!
