[Tagging] How to tag small canals?

Philip Barnes phil at trigpoint.me.uk
Fri Aug 17 11:51:17 UTC 2018


A brook is bigger than a stream. A beck, or Clough, is the same as a brook, just a different regional dialect.

But true a stream will turn into a brook will turn into a river.

Phil (trigpoint) 

On 17 August 2018 12:40:38 BST, Paul Allen <pla16021 at gmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 12:16 PM, SelfishSeahorse
><selfishseahorse at gmail.com
>> wrote:
>
>>
>> Actually, it's only drain that doesn't seem to make sense
>> semantically, but ditch seems to be fine for smaller canals used for
>> drainage and irrigation, at least according to the definitions by
>> Wikipedia[^1] and the Cambridge Dictionary[^2].
>>
>
>As used by Ordnance Survey in the UK, "drain" is what most of us (even
>in
>the UK) think of as a ditch.
>
>I'm not sure if a (smaller) mill race can also be called a ditch,
>
>
>I wouldn't think of a mill race as a ditch.  To my mind a ditch is not
>about transporting water from A to B and
>especially not for generating mechanical power.  I wouldn't call a mill
>race a canal, either, but it seems to be
>closer in definition than ditch is.
>
>
>> but i think it makes sense to have at least two tags for man-made
>channels
>> of different width.
>>
>
>Not if width=* can do the job.  Not if it's possible to draw an outline
>of
>the bank.  Both are possible.  It's just that
>current OSM carto doesn't honour them in this situation.
>
>* waterway=creek - small to medium-sized natural stream (1-3 m wide)
>>
>
>That is not UK usage.  See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creek
>
>The only word I can find meaning large stream is "beck."  Or you could
>have
>"brook" for small stream.  Giving
>either river/beck/stream or river/stream/brook.  Or we just stick with
>river/stream.  Especially as we don't have a
>meaningful definition of the difference (how far can you jump).
>
>All this is complicated by the fact that what starts out as a brook
>often
>turns into a stream which can turn into a river, and is
>named "River X" or "Afon X" (if you're Welsh") all the way from the
>mouth
>to the dripping tap in somebody's back yard (spot
>the old TV comedy reference).
>
>-- 
>Paul

-- 
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