In #4918 we restored name label rendering for natural=reef after we had unintentionally removed it in #3712 before. This change was made to restore previous consensus after the unintentional change. But it is unclear if it is actually a good idea to render these labels.
It can also be observed that many reefs carry names not in the local language of the region they are located in - which often means they are copied from secondary sources without local knowledge.
In contrast to that we currently do not show the much more consistently and widely tagged physical characterization of reefs with reef=* (12648 uses).
IMO it would be good to drop the label rendering, which frequently supports individual label placement desires of mappers and not consistent use according to a consensus among mappers. Instead we should look into displaying reef=*, which would be of much benefit for mapper feedback and for providing meaningful information to map users.
In #4918 we restored name label rendering for
natural=reefafter we had unintentionally removed it in #3712 before. This change was made to restore previous consensus after the unintentional change. But it is unclear if it is actually a good idea to render these labels.Currently 3182 of 48394
natural=reeffeatures have a name tag, 1305 of those are nodes. Quite a few of those carry not the name of a reef in the sense the tag is used in OSM (shallow part of the seafloor permanently under water) but the name of atolls or islands (like https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3975771). Common are also descriptions (like https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/968222964, https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/10264533, https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/10319956).It can also be observed that many reefs carry names not in the local language of the region they are located in - which often means they are copied from secondary sources without local knowledge.
In contrast to that we currently do not show the much more consistently and widely tagged physical characterization of reefs with
reef=*(12648 uses).IMO it would be good to drop the label rendering, which frequently supports individual label placement desires of mappers and not consistent use according to a consensus among mappers. Instead we should look into displaying
reef=*, which would be of much benefit for mapper feedback and for providing meaningful information to map users.I showed a possible design to do this in https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues/4513#issuecomment-1036092330: