[talk-au] How to tag plantations?

[Little Maps]

Hi folks, I’m planning on mapping tree cover in an area with lots of pine and eucalypt plantations as well as native forests, and want to check on the preferred way of tagging plantations in Australia before I begin. 

I realise that plantations don’t render in the standard OSM render and that there’s no international consensus on landuse=forest vs natural=wood etc, but see that as beside the point. There are so few plantations mapped as such in eastern Australia that it should be reasonably easy to develop a consistent approach. Do you think the following method is optimal to distinguish the three forest types?

1. Native eucalypt forests (not plantations, may or may not be used for forestry):

natural=wood
leaf_type=broadleaved
leaf_cycle=evergreen (somewhat superfluous in Aus but comprehensive)
source:geometry... etc.

2. Pine plantations (invariably Pinus radiata in my region)

natural=wood
plantation=yes
leaf_type=needleleaved
leaf_cycle=evergreen (again superfluous in Aus but comprehensive)

3. Hardwood plantations (mostly blue gum here)

natural=wood
plantation=yes
leaf_type= broadleaved
leaf_cycle=evergreen (again superfluous in Aus but comprehensive)

Thus, “plantation=yes” distinguishes plantations from natural forests, and leaf_type=broadleaved vs needleleaved distinguishes pine from euc plantations.

According to Taginfo, all existing tags for “plantation=yes” in Australia (about 1200 of them, and nearly all in WA) use “landuse=forest” and none use “natural=wood”. However I’m assuming that this group prefers to use “natural=wood” over “landuse=forest” - but I may be wrong.

Thanks once again for your helpful advice. Best wishes Ian