[Tagging] Fwd: [tagging] Canoe route / nautical channels

Kevin Kenny kevin.b.kenny at gmail.com
Tue Feb 12 14:12:00 UTC 2019


On Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 7:49 AM Dave Swarthout <daveswarthout at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The seamark definition in the supplied link is very general. I cannot see how anyone could misinterpret this use of either waterway=fairway or seamark:type=fairway unless they are specialists, in which case I'm sure a response will be forthcoming. Regardless, I agree that the conflict note should be removed.
>
> I would love to see the tag waterway=fairway accepted but I also hope we can somehow make it applicable to canoe routes as well. A canoe route is not as well defined as a shipping channel, for example, but it does have a preferred path and well-defined put-in and take-out points. It does not, however, typically have marker buoys or lights. If we removed that requirement or made it optional, that would save a lot of energy in trying to get a modification approved later. So, instead of saying: " A navigable route in a lake or sea marked by buoys", it might say, "A navigable route in a lake or sea usually marked by buoys. In the case of a fairway describing a canoe route, there would typically be no buoys."
>
> Opinions? I think the fairway tag fits so well it might be appropriated for use on such routes anyway.

We recently were also discussing the idea of having an
'indefinite=yes' tag to mark the indefiniite portion of the closed set
of ways that encloses a peninsula, isthmus, bay, strait, or similar
form.  Is the on-water portion of a canoe route an indefinite way?  (I
would imagine that portages are usually quite definite, but I've
carried on a few where the mud was only slightly too thick to pole or
paddle through.)

It appears that the nearest thing on the seamark schema is
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Seamarks/Leading_Lines - and it
states specifically that the centreline of a fairway should not be
mapped.  In the nautical world, there are usually well-defined and
charted limits of safe navigation, so that a fairway will be bounded
by clearing lines. In the canoe world, it is for the boatman to decide
where safe water is at the lake's current height or the river's
current rate of flow.

I'd imagine that a canoe route that follows a river would ordinarily
share the river "centerline" or Thalweg with the 'river' object,
except for where it comes ashore to portage or is plotted in a
specific track around obstacles. On a paddle-and-portage from lake to
lake, the waterway portions are quite indefinite indeed!



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