Cool. I think you’ve found a great tag.
- farmland=paddy : It’s not bad as a tag that simply and unambiguously represents “rice paddy”, but I think it can be confusing since “rice paddy” is often planted with other crops in the same ecosystem.(I wanted to keep it completely separate, but that’s why I chose a tag that can only change its status at any time.
- farmland=wetland : I think this tag is unfortunately the most common example of misuse. Rice paddies are often, but not always, wetland conditions, and wetland conditions are not essential to grow rice, and in fact, if you look at the example used in the UK, it’s not even a rice paddy.
- farmland=flooded_crops : This tag isn’t bad for indicating what crops are being grown, but as I said before, it’s a little unfortunate that the land doesn’t have a set crop. In fact, It might even plant different crops depending on the season.
- irrigated=flooded : I think this tag is very cool because it indicates land that needs irrigation, and I think it would be great to use it along with the ‘surface=mud’ tag to indicate the condition of the land.
By comparison,
- surface=mud : doesn’t directly and unambiguously represent paddy. As it is, it can always be applied to other crops. It’s perfect for representing the condition of the land surface, which is almost essential for growing rice.
Let’s recap where I’m struggling.
- What is the core value of a (rice)paddy?
Is it the condition of the land or the type of crop being planted? Is it irrigated or not, or something else? - Do we need to use different tags for different crops?
If so, we have a problem with planting different crops on the same piece of land as it is. - Is it appropriate to not categorize rice paddies and just indicate their paddy status?
Importance of rice or paddy to people in rice growing areas.
Would Italians be happy if we lumped “spaghetti” with “noodles”? Would biologists be happy if we lumped whales with just fish?