Tagging for Foraging
Foraging is the act of searching for and collecting food. This page aims to provide best practices for users who wish to tag trees/plants/etc. in a manner which facilitates foraging.
Established Tags
There already exists well-defined tagging for plants. All mapped plants, for foraging or otherwise, should attempt to include these tags, when known.
Natural tag
If you are mapping plants, it's advisable to map perennials or annuals that are very likely to be in the same location in future years.
Species tagging
There exist several tagging styles in OSM for identifying a plant. While all may be used, taxon key (and namespace) is the preferred tag for foraging. As the Key:taxon page states, it is meant to be used more loosely than the other scientific naming tags genus and species. When foraging, the precise species may not be known, but the genus may have too much variability on its own, as is the case with cherries and apples. The taxon tag has the flexibility to tag a tree as Prunus sp. sour red, which while imprecise, includes information a forager may wish to know beyond "this is a cherry tree".
If species is known, it is also preferred to include the wikidata code, as this can be used to more easily access other information about the plant.
- taxon=*
- taxon:wikidata=*
- Localized
taxon:xxfor common name(s)
Users can add any additional tags they wish for denoting species:wikidata=*, taxon:genus=*, and the like. More detail never hurts, though it can be redundant.
Country-specific Foraging
In countries where Allemansrätten (Freedom to roam) applies, it is assumed that you can harvest things unless otherwise noted. Make sure to verify whether you can legally harvest things before doing so.
Access Tag
Beyond the identity of a plant, a forager often needs to know: can I freely harvest from this plant? Is permission needed? Is it explicitly prohibited? In other words, what is the legal access a person has to a given plant, specifically in regards to harvesting from it?
To convey this information use the foraging=* key, with values like yes, no, and permissive. Or any other values as the situation warrants.
If possible, also include foraging:source=*, so that other users can verify the source of this information and keep it up to date.
Tagging Access to an Area
If foraging is permitted or prohibited for an entire area, such as a nature reserve, the foraging key can be added to the way, as opposed to individual features within it.
Tagging for Complex Situations
If foraging is permitted for only certain things, make use of the foraging:conditional=* key in order to convey this information. (See Conditional restrictions for details).
As a basic example, a park which permitted foraging of fruit, but not of mushrooms, might be tagged with foraging:conditional=yes @ fruit; no @ mushrooms.