[Talk-us] Parks in the USA, leisure=park, park:type

[OSM Volunteer stevea]

I do think it important we hear about distinctions between British English (and how it had a defining influence on much tagging in OSM), and American English, which I often say distinctly affected the way Americans have used the leisure=park tag.  "Park" in American English is much more encompassing than "park" in British English AND leisure=park, and whether good or bad, this semantic sense of the word has blurred US tagging to be wide and wild.  OK, enough history.  (The problem may be worldwide in OSM, with the US having its own quirky reasons and tangles).  Then, there is what we might do going forward.

I am heartened to see so much earnest discussion.  Yet I feel the same way Mateusz does when he says while thinking loudly, he is not sure "what exactly should be done here."  Yes.

And this is not the first time similar discussion has happened.  A result is things mostly grind along as they have.  Or perhaps (as with the introduction of the boundary=protected_area, ostensibly created as a new scheme to solve many things), we get MORE complexity.  I wish I didn't sound so negative or like I'm sowing chaos — I'm not — genuinely, I would love to see clarity emerge, yet it seems elusive.  Though I'll say it again:  talk, talk and more talk, while tedious and even exhausting sometimes, seems it's better than not talking, as sometimes a kernel of better understanding shakes out.  I continue to hold out for that here.

SteveA