Is there a distinction between a person who has a possessory interest in real property and who has not a right to possession of real property?

Notwithstanding this trend, applicable law still purports to recognize standards distinguishing a "possessory interest" in land from other activities which take place thereon. In a sense, everything that is done by anyone of necessity takes place on real property (land, sea, tidelands, air space, etc.) but it is not, we presume, all subject to property tax. It was, to be sure, dictum, but the court in Freeman v. County of Fresno, supra, 126 Cal.App.3d 459, 178 Cal.Rptr. 764 assumed that the street artist on Telegraph Avenue was not vested with a possessory interest.