I like the suggestions @Kovoschiz made except for the naming. I doubt anyone has ever referred to it as a “scented item cache”. It’s always been bear cache or food cache in my experience. “Scented item cache” is technically more correct, but it reduces clarity because that’s not what they’re called anywhere else, even in official communication. It could also reduce usage if it makes the tagging more difficult to search for.
My preference would be to either change the naming to amenity=food_cache, which is still a commonly used term but makes the tagging usable in places where bears are not an issue, or to leave it as amenity=bear_cache since I’ve only ever heard of them being constructed to prevent problem bears. Is anyone aware of food caches being used for animals besides bears? Maybe in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia?
Either way, a description in the wiki would make it clear that the cache should be used to store other scented items as well (as would official communication from park rangers).
The locker/pole distinction is the most useful additional tag. The hook/pulley distinction is less important but doesn’t hurt.
I prefer to see them mapped as nodes for simplicity and I feel that mapping as ways or areas is a bit of a waste of time, but as long as renderers can interpret it (and probably display it as a node in the end anyways) it doesn’t hurt. One node per campground would work, or maybe multiple nodes if caches are far enough apart that the location of one isn’t immediately obvious while you’re standing at another.
The quantity of lockers isn’t particularly important; they’re always communal in my experience and overall volume would be more useful but isn’t likely to gain any traction.
Is anyone aware of food caches being used for animals besides bears? Maybe in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia?
I did a bit of reading and the only reference of food storage infrastructure I could find was poles for rodent hangs in some Australian national parks. In New Zealand and Japan people seem to store food in their tents, and in eastern Europe they recommend hanging your food but I couldn’t find any reference of infrastructure for that purpose.
It seems like nowhere else in the world has to deal with problem bears, and in most cases rodents and birds aren’t worth the hassle of building infrastructure.
No, in Australia, they usually just recommend to pack your food in a plastic box, or leave it inside your tent, as if you leave it outside, it’ll be raided by possums!
I’ve never seen any actual infrastructure provided for securing food though.
Thanks, that’s good info. I was able to find one other reference to people storing food in a cage of some kind to keep it safe from baboons but it isn’t clear whether it was installed infrastructure or a portable enclosure.
I suspect that as more people from around the world chime in we’ll find more examples of food caches designed for different animals, so I am leaning more towards changing the tagging away from “bear_cache”.
@ralley, what are food caches called in South Africa?
Completely forgot what this is about here. Think I liked adding animalproof=bear etc most, which can be added to others eg =waste_basket as probably mentioned. The feature could be simply =animalproof_storage as mentioned by others for =animal_proof_storage , to be item-agnostic. No need for a specific animal, and form “cache” or “cage”.
What about man_made=storage + storage=animal_proof.
there are currently 703k man_made=storage_tank, these are quite more specific than “storage” at the first level, IMHO we should not introduce a generic storage tag, because we miss an agreement about the tags for a very specific amenity.
I’d rather favor something specific like
amenity=animal_proof_storage
amenity seems a better key because the value describes a function (rather than a shape or physical structure) and because these are aiming at the general public
Same as in NZ. Backpacking a lot in the western US sleeping with my food is a no no unless you want a bear in your tent.
Had my food bag out (probably an ursack?) on a poor camp next to the trail near an XC pass (Rabbit) and was woken up by a Possum. Scared it off and then secured it properly. Didn’t sleep too well that night.
Most people just stay in huts there, so that’s the food storage.