ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC SIGNS: REFLECTING UPON ITS TRANSITION

[EN] In our days we face a fundamental issue concerning road signs. We may display contents in vertical and horizontal format (static signs, variable message signs, road markings), either on a post, a gantry or a dashboard. And we foresee a coming age where the excellent matrix resolution of painted signs will be truly approached by the resolution of full matrix displays. But we also risk a babel context threatening the universal approach encouraged by international catalogues as the 1968 Convention (ECE/TRANS/196, 2007). And the fundamental risk comes from our decisions regarding how the transition from the contents and formats displayed on static message signs to the ones displayed on electronic signs (in gantries or dashboards) should be. Our work explores this issue specifically, considering the transition from Advance Direction Signs (static message signs, class G, 1 in the 1968 Convention) to what could be termed Advance Location Signs (signs concerning the location of variable events with regards to certain landmarks) developed as an adaptation of the G, 1 class to electronic traffic signs.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.3217  http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/CIT/CIT2016Arbaiza Martin, A.; Lucas Alba, A.; Hernando Mazón, A.; Blanch Micó, MT. (2016). ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC SIGNS: REFLECTING UPON ITS TRANSITION. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 2038-2045. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.3217OCS2038204

On drivers’ reasoning about traffic signs: The case of qualitative location

This article explores the most appropriate arrangement (vertical, horizontal) and the frame of reference adopted by drivers (intrinsic, relative) as determinants of the comprehension of new traffic messages (e.g., congestion before arriving to Milan). Two specific cases for location (event-before-city, event-after-city) were tested following two layouts: H (horizontal, left-right) and V (vertical, bottom-up). Four comprehension tests carried out between 2006 and 2013 with 10, 099 drivers in four countries (Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden) were analyzed in a 2 (case: Before vs. After) x 2 (disposition: H, V) x 4 (Country) between-subject design. The comprehension of the V variants (78.1%) exceeded the comprehension of the H variants (54.1%) in all the countries in the "before" case. In no country did the V or H variants come close to functional understanding in the "after" case. The results provided evidence of the preferred model and relative frame of reference as determinants of message understanding. General Audience Summary A controversial aspect that arises from the use of different traffic signaling devices is that drivers often have to understand messages they are seeing for the very first time. This article analyzes the results of a series of empirical studies carried out with the aim of internationalizing variable message signs (VMS) by substituting keywords (e.g., prepositions) for abstract graphic signs (e.g., an arrow). Faced with novel elements in a traffic message about which drivers must conclude something in real time, they have no choice but to reason. This article explores the most appropriate arrangement (vertical, horizontal) and the frame of reference adopted by drivers (intrinsic, relative) as determinants of the comprehension of novel and complex VMS (e.g., congestion before arriving to Milan). Our study focuses on the design variants tested to inform drivers about two cases for location (event-before-city and event-after-city), following two basic layouts: H (horizontal, left-right) and V (vertical, bottom-up). Four comprehension tests carried out between 2006 and 2013 with 10, 099 drivers in four countries (Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden) were analyzed in a 2 (case: Before vs. After) x 2 (disposition: H, V) x 4 (Country) between-subject design. The comprehension of the V variants (78.1%) exceeded the comprehension of the H variants (54.1%) in all the countries in the "before" case. However, in no country did the V or H variants come close to functional understanding in the "after" case. The results provided evidence of the preferred model and relative frame of reference as determinants of message understanding. Although it is not realistic to expect national or international drivers to memorize all possible traffic messages, it is feasible to understand how their prior knowledge and preferences modulate their conclusions to design more functional traffic messages

Effect of design factors on drivers’ understanding of variable message signs locating traffic events

Background: This article addresses how to combine three elements (a pictogram, an arrow, a city) in a variable message sign (VMS) to locate temporary events (e.g., “congestion before Milan”). We adopted the G1c stack model as a design template, an Advanced Directional Sign (ADS) recommended by the 1968 Convention to locate cities, which can be easily adapted to modern VMS. However, as most of the VMS in operation are not full-matrix, we have also adapted this design to more restrictive display conditions. This adaptation critically concerned the arrow function on the message that either points up broadly (generically, as in G1c) or connects with the city more specifically (explicit). Although G1c reads top-down like a verbal text, previous studies indicated drivers’ preference for bottom-up landmark order in VMS, so both ordering criteria were compared in the present study. Methods: The experiment involved 99 people (70 drivers and 29 drivers in training). Participants were informed that they would see various VMS reporting certain events (e.g., congestion) related to one of four cities along the road. Their task was to identify the event location (before, after the city) after seeing blocks of two consecutive messages (first a complementary message, then the target message), limiting their response to the content of the second message. Three design-focused factors were tested: typographical alignment (left or centre), landmark order (bottom-up or top-down), and arrow function (explicit or generic). The rate of correct location answers was the dependent variable. Results: Results revealed that comprehension varied greatly depending on the arrow’s function and the placing of elements. In the explicit-arrow messages, comprehension was good both in the Top-down and Bottom-up conditions, but in the generic-arrow messages, only in the Bottom-up condition was comprehension good. Likewise, understanding was better in the Before condition than in the After condition in all combinations of Landmark order and Arrow function conditions. In general, left alignment of the central column elements of the VMS improved comprehension respective to centred alignment. Finally, the complementary message factor had an effect under certain circumstances. Practical implications: The messages displaying a generic arrow (following the G1c model) were better understood when the landmarks were ordered bottom-up, not top-down. In addition, explicit-arrow messages were better understood per se (in the absence of a complementary message) than generic-arrow messages. Overall, this work suggests that improving our understanding of how thought processes and design features relate to each other can contribute to safer driving nationally and internationally

ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC SIGNS: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN HYBRID AND FULL MATRIX E-SIGNS

[EN] Road signs constitute a complex and growing communication system where different elements (pictograms, shapes, texts, etc.) are combined following different strategies. In this paper we have confronted drivers with a number of messages (congestion or road works, before, between, after location/s) developed as an adaptation of Advance Location Signs (class G, 1c in the 1968 Convention) to electronic displays. We manipulate two main factors a) the reading strategy (top-down vs. bottom-up) and the type of matrix display (hybrid, dissociating pictogram and text, vs. full matrix), in a repeated measures experimental design. The time taken to answer and the response given (correct, incorrect) was measured for each of the 24 message-blocks. Results show that the organization of the elements displayed is a key determinant for driver comprehension. Further thoughts on the need to understand the interplay between the formats adopted by static vs electronic message signs are provided.Lucas-Alba, A.; Hernando Mazón, A.; Blanch Micó, MT.; Gutiérrez Pérez, D.; Echeverría Villaspí, J.; Landa Tejero-Garcés, N. (2016). ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC SIGNS: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN HYBRID AND FULL MATRIX E-SIGNS. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 2038-2045. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.3327OCS2038204

Arrow Symbols: Theory for Interpretation

People often sketch diagrams when they communicate successfully among each other. Such an intuitive collaboration would also be possible with computers if the machines understood the meanings of the sketches. Arrow symbols are a frequent ingredient of such sketched diagrams. Due to the arrows’ versatility, however, it remains a challenging problem to make computers distinguish the various semantic roles of arrow symbols. The solution to this problem is highly desirable for more effective and user-friendly pen-based systems. This thesis, therefore, develops an algorithm for deducing the semantic roles of arrow symbols, called the arrow semantic interpreter (ASI). The ASI emphasizes the structural patterns of arrow-containing diagrams, which have a strong influence on their semantics. Since the semantic roles of arrow symbols are assigned to individual arrow symbols and sometimes to the groups of arrow symbols, two types of the corresponding structures are introduced: the individual structure models the spatial arrangement of components around each arrow symbol and the inter-arrow structure captures the spatial arrangement of multiple arrow symbols. The semantic roles assigned to individual arrow symbols are classified into orientation, behavioral description, annotation, and association, and the formats of individual structures that correspond to these four classes are identified. The result enables the derivation of the possible semantic roles of individual arrow symbols from their individual structures. In addition, for the diagrams with multiple arrow symbols, the patterns of their inter-arrow structures are exploited to detect the groups of arrow symbols that jointly have certain semantic roles, as well as the nesting relations between the arrow symbols. The assessment shows that for 79% of sample arrow symbols the ASI successfully detects their correct semantic roles, even though the average number of the ASI’s interpretations is only 1.31 per arrow symbol. This result indicates that the structural information is highly useful for deriving the reliable interpretations of arrow symbols

Transforming structured descriptions to visual representations. An automated visualization of historical bookbinding structures.

In cultural heritage, the documentation of artefacts can be both iconographic and textual, i.e. both pictures and drawings on the one hand, and text and words on the other are used for documentation purposes. This research project aims to produce a methodology to transform automatically verbal descriptions of material objects, with a focus on bookbinding structures, into standardized and scholarly-sound visual representations. In the last few decades, the recording and management of documentation data about material objects, including bookbindings, has switched from paper-based archives to databases, but sketches and diagrams are a form of documentation still carried out mostly by hand. Diagrams hold some unique information, but often, also redundant information already secured through verbal means within the databases. This project proposes a methodology to harness verbal information stored within a database and automatically generate visual representations. A number of projects within the cultural heritage sector have applied semantic modelling to generate graphic outputs from verbal inputs. None of these has considered bookbindings and none of these relies on information already recorded within databases. Instead they develop an extra layer of modelling and typically gather more data, specifically for the purpose of generating a pictorial output. In these projects qualitative data (verbal input) is often mixed with quantitative data (measurements, scans, or other direct acquisition methods) to solve the problems of indeterminateness found in verbal descriptions. Also, none of these projects has attempted to develop a general methodology to ascertain the minimum amount ii of information that is required for successful verbal-to-visual transformations for material objects in other fields. This research has addressed these issues. The novel contributions of this research include: (i) a series of methodological recommendations for successful automated verbal-to-visual intersemiotic translations for material objects — and bookbinding structures in particular — which are possible when whole/part relationships, spatial configurations, the object’s logical form, and its prototypical shapes are communicated; (ii) the production of intersemiotic transformations for the domain of bookbinding structures; (iii) design recommendations for the generation of standardized automated prototypical drawings of bookbinding structures; (iv) the application — never considered before — of uncertainty visualization to the field of the archaeology of the book. This research also proposes the use of automatically generated diagrams as data verification tools to help identify meaningless or wrong data, thus increasing data accuracy within databases