Lighthouse

Category

Heritage Attractions, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a lighthouse

	Source	Description
	BTA 1989	Side view of lighthouse on irregular shape as base, six lines indicating light beams
	BS 8501:2002	Side view of lighthouse on irregular shape as base, six lines indicating light beams
	Québec	Side view of lighthouse with door, on base, six lines indicating light beams
	DER	Side view of lighthouse with four light beams
	GSR Portugal	Side view of lighthouse, four lines indicating light beams
	Fiori R	Side view of lighthouse on solid base, four lines indicating light beams
	Galicia	Side view of lighthouse on flat base, two light beams
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of lighthouse, two light beams
	Parks Canada	Side view of lighthouse, two light beams
	Dutchicon	Side view of lighthouse, light beam and two openings in one direction
	SADC	Side view of lighthouse, light beam towards left
	NPS	Side view of lighthouse with door on flat base
	USGS	Side view of lighthouse with door on flat base
	Nova Scotia	Side view of lighthouse in water shown as three wavy lines
	BSH	Five-pointed filled star, yellow lightbeam
	ARIB	Circle with dot at center, radial lines outside in 45° steps

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

Discussion

Pictograms found generally show a side view of lighthouse, sometimes in combination with a door or some other elements, but in many cases with one or two light beams. Disregarding the more abstract map symbols one could identify this as a visual stereotype for the intended message.

In our research we discovered that there is only very limited test data available for the referent Lighthouse:

Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol for Lighthouse, labeled Fiori R in the table above. 80.9 % of the responses in a Comprehension Test were classified as correct. Wrong answers were Port and Rocket for example.

Neves (2012) examined two variants very similar to the pictogram labeled GSR Portugal in the table above on basis of the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure, where these reached almost identical mean values of 69.1 and 70.9.

The results mentioned indicate that most existing pictorial variants probably are understood well enough, but there still is room for improvement. No comprehension data is available for the abstract map symbols at the bottom of the table above.

Recommendations

We suggest to develop additional pictogram variants, some also including water on one side. Then studies comparing several or all concepts should be conducted. The study design should also include a Comprehension Test to identify possible misinterpretations and to improve designs. Only on such a basis a clear decision concerning a specific recommendation can be reached.

Tests of pictograms of referent Lighthouse

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

Neves, J. (2012): Sistema de signos para informação turística: Metodologia para o desenvolvimento de sistemas sinaléticos. Tese de Doutorado - Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitetura.