I would tag it as natural=wood as I don’t feel that there is any distinction 
between a 2-year old stand and a 250 year old stand in terms of being wood, or 
forest.  They are merely different ages.  Licensees maintain incredibly 
accurate and up-to-date maps that indicate the different openings and their 
respective stages of development.  They have dedicated GIS guys that maintain 
these maps as fast as techies bring it in.  I suppose, in theory, an OSM tag 
could be used to indicate the stage of opening development, but one would 
require the date of harvesting, the date of planting and the dates of the 
silviculture surveys to accurately assess the phase.  Unless you are a forester 
you won’t have access to that information and would be guessing.   I just feel 
that attempting to seriously map out such temporary features accurately goes 
way beyond the ability of OSM (at this point, at least).

 

Bryan 

 

 

From: Samuel Longiaru [mailto:longi...@shaw.ca] 
Sent: March-04-11 9:43 PM
To: talk-ca
Subject: Re: [Talk-ca] Mapping cut blocks in "wooded" areas

 

I very much see your point which is why I was asking for some direction.  I 
guess it comes down to whether the map should reflect what we see at some given 
snapshot in time, or whether it is reflecting the overall landuse scheme.  In 
short, while standing in the middle of a clear-cut, would it be more accurate 
that my map show that spot as wooded or not wooded?

Sam L.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Crosby <azubr...@gmail.com 
<mailto:bryan%20crosby%20%3cazubr...@gmail.com%3e> >
To: 'talk-ca' <talk-ca@openstreetmap.org 
<mailto:'talk-ca'%20%3ctalk...@openstreetmap.org%3e> >
Subject: Re: [Talk-ca] Mapping cut blocks in "wooded" areas
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:11:20 -0800

RE: cut-blocks

 

As someone who has spent done time as a forest technician, I strongly advise 
against mapping forestry activity.  Cut block spatial data changes daily and 
any images used to trace are out of date.  There are literally tens of 
thousands of clear cuts in British Columbia alone and there is absolutely no 
way OSM mappers would be able to keep up with changes.  Keep in mind that most 
clearcuts on crown land (and in some cases, private land) are temporary 
openings in various stages forest development.  A 2 year old stand is just as 
much a forest as a 25 year old free-to-grow stand or a 250 year old stand of 
timber.  I believe that mapping a privately held ‘Christmas’ tree farm would be 
pertinent, but these are radically different from commercial forestry openings. 
 

 

I would also advise extreme caution in using images to map forest development 
roads unless are working on a high traffic mainline.  Many spur roads are in 
various stages of deactivation.  It may look like a road from the outdated 
image, but it may have been completely deactivated and replanted.  A site 
inspection is the only way to be sure.  

 

Bryan

British Columbia

 

From: Daniel Begin [mailto:jfd...@hotmail.com] 
Sent: March-04-11 8:19 PM
To: 'Samuel Longiaru'; 'talk-ca'
Subject: Re: [Talk-ca] Mapping cut blocks in "wooded" areas


 

Hi Samuel,

 

About tagging forested areas, I would use landuse=forest only if it is obvious 
on the field that the area is managed/harvested, as for landuse=orchard or 
landuse=vineyard. We have a lot of Christmas tree plantations in the area and I 
map them as landuse=forest because it is obvious on the imagery and on the 
field.  

 

If it is difficult to determine if an area is under timber lease or not, 
because it looks the same, I would keep it natural=wood...

 

About Cut blocks, I would map the hole they create that wooded area.  If the 
area is replanted, then some OSM contributor will remove the hole you map in 
10-20 years from now! 

 

Mapping the reality is the best we can do and because the reality changes over 
time, we can keep mapping !-)

 

Daniel

 

  _____  

From: Samuel Longiaru [mailto:longi...@shaw.ca] 
Sent: March-04-11 21:45
To: talk-ca
Subject: [Talk-ca] Mapping cut blocks in "wooded" areas


 

Hi Everybody,

I've been importing CanVec mostly south of Kamloops for the past several weeks 
and am going to take some time now to go back and bring stuff up to date.  One 
question I have though is in regards to how to treat cut blocks in the wooded 
areas.

I see according to the map features wiki, that the CanVec imported tag of 
natural=wood is technically not correct, at least for here, as wood is to be 
reserved only for completely reserved/unmanaged areas.  I guess most of what I 
have should really be mapped as landuse=forest but I have not made the change 
because what is under timber lease and what is not would be difficult to 
determine.  In one sense it's all managed to some degree or other.  But my 
point is rather what should be done with the cut blocks, which in some areas 
constitute up to 50% or more of the forested area.  http://osm.org/go/WJ1cj_R 
is a typical area.  It seems improper to keep them as wooded when they are 
clearly not, and yet most are replanted and will be wooded again someday... or 
at least that's what they keep telling us.

I started mapping them as it truly gives a more accurate representation of the 
current state of affairs on the ground... but thought I'd better get some 
guidance before proceeding too far.  

Thanks,

Sam L.
Kamloops 



 
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