There are long-standing problems in relation to the rendering of protected areas in OpenStreetMap. This is not surprising as there many protection classes (there is provision for up to 99) including nature-protected, resources-protected and social-protected areas. Presumably various types of protection classes would warrant different rendering but currently none seem to appear on the map unless certain additional tags are used.
Currently some nature-protected areas operated by Australian state national park organisations are tagged as "protected areas" and are not rendered on the map. These are large and significant areas missing from the map. Nature-protected areas could be identified with the alternate "national park" tag. The wiki page on "boundary=national_park" states "A national park is a relatively large area of land declared by a government (just as boundary=administrative are declared/recognised by governments), to be set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, as well as the protection of the natural environment and/or cultural heritage of an area. This would normally also come with restrictions on human activity, particularly development, for the protection of wildlife and scenery." It proceeds to explain that the words "national park" do not need to appear in the name but the area, however named, should satisfy the above definition. Many Australian areas whose titles include nomenclature such as "State Conservation Area" or "Nature Reserve" or "Wilderness Park" could all be encompassed under the "boundary=national_park" tag. I understand arguments about not mapping for the renderer. However, in this instance, there appear to be two acceptable forms of tagging but only one is reliably rendered. Therefore I propose that the Australian Tagging Guidelines be modified to encourage preference for nature protected areas, which satisfy the above definition of "national park", to be tagged as such. At some time in the future, if there is progress in the rendering of protected areas, this guideline could be revised if warranted. In the interim, using the option of "boundary=national_park" would be consistent with the guidelines for that tag and would permit these significant areas to appear on the map. Protected areas will be rendered on the map if the tag "leisure=nature_reserve" is added. However not all nature protected areas are open for leisure purposes (depending on one's definition of "leisure"). Access may sometimes be restricted to research or educational purposes or similar. It seems preferable that such areas be tagged as "national_park" accompanied with an "access=restricted" or similar tag. _______________________________________________ Talk-au mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-au
