[Tagging] Beaches

[Dave F.]

Cartinus wrote:
> On Thursday 08 April 2010 22:00:54 John Smith wrote:
>   
>> From http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beach
>>
>>     
>>> "Beach areas should always meet with a natural=coastline way. 

This is not the case. Many lakes have beaches, either natural or even 
man made.

>>> Do not use
>>> this tag for patches of sand/gravel which are not by a coastline. Note
>>> that the natural=coastline should ideally be positioned at the average
>>> high tide line, which may mean the beach is quite small or not mapped at
>>> all in fact."
>>>       
>> By this logic wouldn't the beach cover from the average high tide line
>> to the average low tide line?
>>     
>
> No. The beach is above the high tide line.
>
> For everyone who has never seen the sea ....
>
> Commonly a sandy beach consists of a dry part with loose sand above the high 
> tide line and a wet part with compact sand between the low and high tide 
> lines. What the wiki is trying to say, is that you should map the dry part.

You appear to have a limited view on what a beach is. On some (many?) 
high tide completely covers the sand/shingle etc yet is still considered 
a beach.