Specifically, it is a patch of trees in the middle of a parking lot acting as a sort of traffic island. There could be patches that are larger, or smaller. These are the following tagging options that I’ve come across:
natural=wood: this doesn’t seem entirely appropriate, because it’s not necessarily a patch of forest left to naturally grow — it is managed for aesthetic/functional purposes.
landuse=forest: This seems possible, but it seems more targeted at large managed forest areas for forestry purposes like logging.
Many instances of natural=tree: This seems like a really poor descriptive option for the area.
landcover=trees: This seems like the best descriptive tag, but, from what I’ve seen on the wiki, it almost seems to be discouraged, so I’m not 100% sure.
Another example would be this patch of trees lining the side of the road:
natural=wood is fine for a small patch of woods like the second photo in your post. At a certain point if there are only a few trees, the patch becomes too small to really be considered “woods” and I would instead map it as several natural=tree nodes, or a natural=tree_row if the trees are in a line. Or I might just not bother mapping it as anything. The first photo appears to only have about 5 trees and is pushing the limit of what I would consider “woods”.
afair this is not the case, by the time the tagging that should have been discouraged (only three tags were named: natural=sand, natural=mud, landuse=grass) was not used in such high numbers as it is now.
No, it was considered to discuss natural=water, the actual wording was:
it would actually be logical to have landcover=water and natural=lake/sea/ocean… but I am not sure about the benefit of a change to a tag so extensively used. Comments?)
also consider that by the time (2010), while natural=water was already very popular, the tag water=* was not yet established or used.
They natural key classifies objects which normally grow or develop naturally. Wood does grow naturally, even if it’s managed or planted by man. So natural=wood is perfect for a woody area of any size and form.
