Mosque

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Islamic Temple, Muslim Gathering

Category

Public Facilities, Attractions, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a mosque

	Source	Description
	Health Icons	Frontal view of mosque with dome, two minarets, and additional details
	Rikas Dzihab	Frontal view of mosque with dome and crescent on top, two minarets, arched doorway
	DXB (Emirates)	View of mosque with dome and crescent on top of minaret
	SIS	View of mosque with crescent on top of dome and minaret
	CNIS	View of building with dome and arched doorway, crescent on top
	sumirna	View of building with dome and crescent above, all framed by arched window
	SIS	Crescent and star above clipped view of five human figures
	Argentina SSTN	Crescent and star below inverted V
	BTA 1989	Crescent on stand
	Fiori R	Crescent
	Aicher OAP	Crescent

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

Even though the faith of Islam historically never had a symbol, the crescent moon became a prominent symbol with its adoption by the Ottoman Empire. While almost all symbols displayed above for the referent Mosque rely on displaying a crescent, there is much variation regarding the additional elements shown. Many pictograms show a building, often with a dome and one or several spires or minarets. Other representations also include a star. It seems there is no real single stereotype to express this message. Even the orientation of the crescent varies to quite an extent.

In our research we discovered that test results available for Mosque in our database are regarding one map symbol only:

Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol similar to the pictogram labeled Fiori R the table above, but as small scale reproduction. 35 % of the responses were classified as correct and about one third of the participants (31.4 %) did not respond. Responses reported were for example Night, Moon, Waxing Moon, Night Club, Mystical, Muslim, Islam, and Islamic Temple. These results indicate that renderings just based on a crescent moon without any additional elements are not understood well enough to ensure sufficient comprehensibility.

Recommendations

Due to the fact that almost no data concerning comprehensibility of pictogram variants is available, we recommend to collect more pictograms, and to conduct research using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure for eliminating poor variants and identifying the best of the set available, followed by a Comprehension Test. These studies should deliver useful data for recommending one or several pictograms. Detailed information about the most frequent responses given in each of the response categories of the Comprehension Test should be provided to correctly judge comprehensibility and improve designs.

Tests of pictograms of referent Mosque

Fiori, S. R. (2008): Mapas para o turismo e a interatividade - proposta teórica e prática. Tese de Doutorado - Depto. de Geografia, FFLCH-USP.