[Tagging] Stop the large feature madness (was: Tag for a plateau or tableland?)

Christoph Hormann osm at imagico.de
Wed Apr 17 14:02:54 UTC 2019


On Wednesday 17 April 2019, Joseph Eisenberg wrote:
>
> I believe many people are using natural=peak to add the name of
> plateaus / mesas / tablelands.

Yes, that is definitely the case for buttes and small mesas - but then 
again these are features that can be verifiably mapped based on local 
knowledge.  However using a generic natural=plateau tag which is then 
inevitably used by some mappers to cargo cult polygons around just 
about any area of land elevated in some way relative to its surrounding 
is not a good idea.

I see nothing wrong with creating natural=butte and natural=mesa with 
appropriately tight definitions:  Both being surrounded on all sides by 
cliffs or very steep slopes, buttes with a height larger than width and 
mesas with a flat top (i.e. height variation across the top being 
significantly smaller than the total height).

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/



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