User:Peterfitzgerald/Bodies of water revisions
From Wikitravel
This style guideline discusses the place of bodies of water, like rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas, in Wikitravel.
As outlined at Wikitravel:What is an article?, we don't write articles about every geographical feature on the earth, as Wikitravel is not an encyclopedia. Accordingly, articles about bodies of water are only justified when they cover a legitimate travel destination, which satisfies our basic criterion: "can you sleep there?" Thus, the Atlantic Ocean, the Yalu River, and Lake Khanka would not get their own articles.
However, bodies of water often are coherent travel destinations, but it is not the water itself that is the destination—it is the towns, resorts, etc. on or around the body of water. Popular destinations like Lake Como, the Chesapeake Bay, or Lake Baikal make fine region articles, but remember that the article is intended to provide travel information about the region, rather than encyclopedic information about the body of water. Smaller resort lakes ringed by hotels, restaurants, shops, etc., like Lake Garda can conveniently be described using a city article template. And of course, a major national park area named after a lake, like Crater Lake National Park, deserves its own article.
We do not simply ignore bodies of water that do not meet our article criteria. We do place information about bodies of water elsewhere in the guide, and redirect the traveller to that information.
[edit] Transportation
Using bodies of water as transportation is a subject usually treated in the transportation section (Get in or Get around) section of destination guide. For example a ferry information for crossing the English Channel can be found on United Kingdom#Get in or France#Get in
Sometimes the transportation system for a body of water may be too complex to be in a one or two destination guides, and a travel topic or itinerary article should be considered. for example, you won't find the complete description on how to get from Belem to Manaus via the Amazon river in Belem#Get out.
Bodies of water often serve as conduits for, or obstacles to, getting between two points. For example, you sail over the English Channel to get from the United Kingdom to France; you can't cross the Danube except in a few places. Again, this information is contained in the transportation sections of the relevant guides.
[edit] Attractions
Some bodies of water can be attractions -- things to "See" or "Do" in a city or region, and they are formatted like any other attraction. For example the Seine River in Paris or Lake Merritt in Oakland.
[edit] Itineraries
Bodies of water can also define paths for an itinerary. For example, Along the Yangtze river describes the cities along China's greatest river and how to travel between them. The mode of transportation doesn't have to be land-based. Canoeing the San Marcos River gives tips for a three-day canoe journey through Texas Hill Country. Rideau Canal covers traveling from Ottawa to Kingston both in the canal by boat, or along it by car or bicycle.
[edit] Travel topics
Bodies of water can also support travel topics. Sailing the Caribbean Sea could describe navigational, customs, or other issues with sailing around that body of water. Scuba-diving in the Gulf of Mexico could give tips for good diving spots around the Gulf.
[edit] Disambiguations
Where the information on the body of water is contained within several articles, or the body of water is large and not specific to a single region, create a disambiguation page referencing the destination guides, travel topics and itineraries associated with it.
