User talk:Innesw/draft landcover

This proposal discussion page is still an incomplete draft. Please don't add comments yet.

General notes

This proposal is generally based on Rudolph's landcover proposal. However I have changed the structure from general landcover values, with specific sub-types (eg: landcover=water and water=bay) with simply a landcover=* tag, that has both general and specific values.

Explanations for specific changes

General Landcover values

	Comments
landcover=bryophytes	New value. Sorry about the botanical term, but I know of nothing else that covers all of these plants without roots.
landcover=woodland	Removed leaf_type=*, leaf-cycle=* and cover=* from being specific to woodland. These attributes are detailed in a separate section. Also removed managed=yes, as this has more to do with landuse=*.

Specific Landcover values

	Comments
landcover=ocean	New value. Exists mainly for completeness of the '100% of earths surface' idea for landcover. Would expect to be rarely used. As discussed in The Future of Areas the problems of creating and rendering very large areas like oceans are not yet resolved.
landcover=bay	New value (for the proposal), deprecates natural=bay
landcover=gravel_beach	New value
landcover=water_weed	New value
landcover=mangrove	New value
landcover=saltmarsh	New value
landcover=tidalflat	New value
landcover=bog	Descriptions changed. I fail to see how moss genus, soil pH or the water source could usually be determined by a mapper, and therefore bogs and fens are distinguished by the vegetation above the mosses.
landcover=fen		Description changed, to dominated by moss and grasses, sedges etc.
landcover=savanna	Changed description to remove 'natural'.
landcover=grass	New value
landcover=meadow	Description changed to drop the assumed uses of hay or pasture.
landcover=lawn	New value
landcover=turf	New value
landcover=hardpan	Changed description to remove salt and dry lakes, which have separate values.
landcover=dry_lake	New value
landcover=salt	New value
landcover=mud	New value
landcover=gravel	Changed description to exclude intertidal gravel beaches.
landcover=sub_surface	Name and description changed, replacing landcover=extraction, which is a landuse.
landcover=cropland	New value
landcover=plantation	Description changed
landcover=orchard	Description changed
shrubland=thicket	New value
landcover=built_up	Name and description changed, replacing landcover=urban.
landcover=mine_spoil	New value
landcover=surface	New value
landcover=natural	This value has been dropped in favour of landcover=grass for grasslands where there are few if any shrubs or trees.
landcover=industrial	This value has been dropped, it is a landuse.