[OSM-talk] tagging wide canals and rivers

[Johan Huysmans]

Hi all,

I'm mapping in following area:
http://www.informationfreeway.org/?lat=51.097759304121375&lon=4.341491089644669&zoom=13&layers=B000F000

But encountered a problem. I want to draw the rivers, canals and locks 
in that area.
But with the canal i only got the surroundings of the canal, the inside 
isn't colored as water.

Is it normal that canals and rivers are only as a way and not as an area?
What is the normal way of drawing bigger rivers (wider than the default 
line when rendered)?
I guess adding something like width=25m isn't very useful as the width 
varies a lot.

What is the best way to tag these canals and rivers?

Thanks!
Johan Huysmans