Synonyms / Other Terms Used
Boat Launching, Slipway, Boat Deployer
Category
Facilities, Tourism
Message / Function
For notice in general and to indicate the location of a boat launching area
Source | Description | |
---|---|---|
Parks Canada | Side view of a motor boat, two wheels with bar, solid triangle, wavy line below | |
NZS 8603 | Side view of a motor boat, wheel with bar, solid triangle, two wavy lines | |
TAC | Side view of a motor boat, wheel with bar, solid triangle, wavy line | |
Pierce | Side view of a motor boat on hanger, solid triangle with wavy contour at bottom | |
U.S. National Park Service |
Side view of a motor boat on hanger, solid triangle with wavy contour at bottom | |
SADC | Side view of a motor boat, wheel with bar, solid triangle, wavy line | |
BS 8501:2002 | Sailing boat with sails set, wheel with bar, solid triangle, two wavy lines | |
Nova Scotia | Side view of motor boat, wheel at bottom, tilted bar indicating ramp, three wavy lines below | |
Ecuador | Side view of a motor boat, wheel with bar, lines indicating ramp, two wavy lines | |
UKFC | Side view of a sailing boat, wheel at bottom, solid triangle below | |
Ordnance Survey | Side view of a sailing boat, wheel at bottom, solid triangle below | |
BTA 1989 | Side view of a boat, wheel at bottom, solid triangle below |
Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.
Discussion
As a look at the table above shows, all pictograms in this collection are based on a side view of some sort of boat with at least one wheel below and an element indicating the ramp or slipway. While most variants also display water in some way, a few omit this element and still seem to be comprehensible.
Besides the variants shown here, additional signs exist to warn of a boat launching slipway, as for example the registered safety sign Reference No W044: Warning; Slipway from ISO 7010. In this case the graphic symbol shown inside the triangle is identical to BS 8501 Public Information Symbol No 9082: Slipway.
We could not find any test data concerning graphic symbols for Boat Launch or Slipway in our database, but there is some information concerning comprehensibility of one pictogram available: since all pictograms that failed comprehension testing in Canada have been retired from use there, the Parks Canada pictogram 6-4-217: Boat Launch displayed above must have reached a comprehension rate of 60 % or higher, as this variant does not have the status Retired.
Recommendations
As we expect variants showing a side view of a hanger with boat on a ramp to be well comprehensible, we recommend using a pictogram similar to this example pictogram from Pierce (1996): The International Pictograms Standard, page 134.
In the long term it would make sense to develop improved variants and to examine on basis of tests, if a specific kind of rendering has advantages concerning comprehensibility and legibility/visibility.
See also
Boat, Port, Marina, Anchorage, Mooring, Sailing, Jet Ski
Updated 2024-06-18 by Ch.Brugger