Talk:Tag:leisure=picnic table

Just a note for those not in Australia

We eat at these tables because if you put food on the ground small six legged creatures eat your food.

So what's the JOSM preset that has a picture of a picnic table on the menu that I've been using to tag such tables actually tag them as? I didn't think to check. I had assumed tagging a node meant a table and tagging an area meant a larger picnic area, perhaps containing a number of tables. --EdLoach 09:44, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

JOSM has a few things that aren't listed on the official map features page, like highway=speed_camera. Also picnic_site is a bit ambiguous, since a lot of these picnic_tables aren't always at picnic_site's... -- Delta foxtrot2 10:57, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Small six legged creatures? Strange - in England the kids mostly have only two legs ... more seriously ... I have tagged a lot of picnic tables / picnic sites using JOSM. Must confess that I cannot yet see the difference between picnic table and picnic site. Admittedly there are lots of nice places for a picnic where there are no tables provided - but that could be almost anywhere on a walk in the open country and I'm not sure there is any value in tagging dozens of nice spots along a walk. I reserve the tag picnic_site (and the JOSM preset - which is a picture of a picnic table) for a place where there is a picnic table (whether or not it is signed as a picnic site) but nowhere else. Could the proposer please clarify what is seen as the difference between picnic_table and picnic_site? Mikh43 11:56, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

picnic_table's can and do occur in areas in Australia that aren't considered picnic_site's like rest areas for travellers. A rest area in Australia is basically a paved area you can pull off onto, but they aren't grassy in western areas, they may or may not have a toilet or BBQ facilities and the toilets may be flushable or pit toilets. For an example of a rest area have a look at the following link: http://anton.architype.co.nz/albums/Australia/RestArea_001.jpg or http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/ntroads/roadside/restareas/k2tc/images/newcastlewaterstoilet.jpg or http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/ntroads/roadside/restareas/victoria/images/mathisoncreek.jpg or http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/ntroads/roadside/restareas/barkly/images/soudanbore2.jpg or http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/ntroads/roadside/restareas/barkly/images/soudanbore1.jpg

Best example I could quickly find on google images, but yea I wouldn't consider it a picnic_site. Delta foxtrot2 03:53, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

• The difference between tourism=picnic_site and a picnic_table to me: A picnic site is a locality that is pleasant and suitable for eating and may have a number of facilities to aid a picnic: toilets, water tap, bbq, benches, table with benches (picnic_table) and covered pavilions for bad weather ... or may just be grassy area popular for picnics. I'd like to be able to map the locality and, optionally, indicate or micro-map the facilities there. At the moment, I commonly use description=* to add some details. In Sweden, at least, there are many places that just have one picnic table or just a bench and nothing else. I'd also like to be able to map those. I'll support this tag. MikeCollinson 11:45, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

• I've put picnic_table as a suggested tag on the picnic_site page, along with bbq, covered, toilets, playground

I'd support this (or a tag like it); picnic tables are a common feature in leisure=playgrounds in the UK - mum+dad sit munching while little Johnny runs about burning off energy on the climbing frame. It seems wrong to tag the playground as a picnic area when it clearly isn't, so tagging individual tables is the way to go. I think some people have proposed man_made=table next to a pair of amenity=benches which is fiddly and doesn't really represent what is there. --Antonyking 07:41, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Editors who have used this proposed feature

• Node 452456203 --Ceyockey 11:30, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Why not an amenity?

Just wondering why this is a leisure tag. Don't think all picnic tables are leisure, i.e. on motorways parkings.--Cordialement, gerdami 13:27, 6 October 2012 (BST)

Idea for new Seating descriptor

I would say better would be:

Seating:
   [ ] Attached
   [ ] Detached

Jidanni (talk) 05:57, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

Private picnic table

Note some picnic tables are public, and some private... Jidanni (talk) 14:41, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

Backrest

I noticed quite some picnic tables with backrests. This was already noted on the Talk:Tag:amenity=bench page. I think it makes sense to also set the backrest option.

Yes, I think this does, too. So it might be worth adding it on the affected pages? --Lukas458 (talk) 13:38, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

One end of the table is longer than the other

Here in Illinois there are many tables with one and longer than the other: sticking out past where any seats are. Isn't that interesting!? Do mention how to tag. Jidanni (talk) 22:27, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

@Jidanni: I guess it is so wheelchair users could join the company sitting at the table, so I would tag them with additional "wheelchair=yes" tag --mnalis (talk) 11:57, 5 December 2022 (UTC)

Indeed. Seen in an ad:

Our ADA accessible picnic tables include one end or side that doesn’t have a bench and can easily accommodate a wheelchair user.

And I mistakenly thought it was just to make more room for hors d'oeuvres!. Jidanni (talk) 12:24, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Picnic tables move around too much

Every year picnic tables seem to get moved around by the picnicking public, or park officials. It's one of the items that one might regret mapping too intensely. Sure, they stay in the same park, but e.g., they've been moved to accommodate Billy's beer party last autumn, and they were too drunk to move them back.

Just my observations of North America picnic tables, many of which are not chained or bolted down. Jidanni (talk) 22:30, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

Therefore: compare different air photos, noting some good tables that seem to be in the same place year after year... these may be good candidates for "representative tables" to map, that give potential visitors an idea that indeed there are some picnic tables in that area, without the disappointment that they are not in their exact mapped spots... and without needing to instead choose boundaries for a "picnic area". Well you get the idea. Jidanni (talk) 12:15, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Additional tag availability should not be proposed

The key:availability is still with proposed status and the comments are rather negative in the talk page of this proposal due to the redundancy with opening_hours.

I think the line availability ... should be deleted. --Blef (talk) 11:04, 13 December 2023 (UTC)