Parking Garage

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Garage, Underground Garage, Indoor Parking, Multistorey Car Park, Parking Building

Category

Regulations, Road Signs, Transportation, Transport Facilities

Message / Function

For notice in general and to indicate a covered area where vehicles may be parked

	Source	Description
	Arthur Shlain	Arrow pointing upwards and two passenger cars inside square divided by horizontal line and vertical separation near bottom
	Luis Prado	Open rectangle with two times two matrix arrangement of front views of passenger cars, horizontal line between
	TC	Side view of two passenger cars on horizontal line, rectangular shape without bottom line above
	O'72	Front view of passenger car, horizontal bar above
	Erta	Front view of passenger car inside rectangular shape without bottom line, horizontal lines indicating roller shutter
	Kapitzki	Front view of passenger car inside rectangular shape without bottom line
	Erco	Front view of passenger car inside bold square frame
	Kapitzki	Front view of passenger car inside rectangular shape with open side and ramp indicated
	rashadashurov	Front view of passenger car inside building with gable roof and rectangular opening
	adioma	Front view of passenger car inside contour of building
	Baden-Baden	Sans serif capital letter P on wall of building with gable roof in outline
	SWISSTRAFFIC	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V in outline above, vertical white bar behind
	DB	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V above
	RWB 2000	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V above
	ÖNORM A 3011	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V above
	W-RSH	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V above
	Tern	Sans serif capital letter P, inverted V above
	Baden-Baden	Sans serif capital letter P, rectangular shape with open side and slanted line ends
	Vuković	Bold rectangular shape without bottom line, cranked line below

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

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of graphical symbols used all over the world used to indicate a covered area where vehicles may be parked. Variants displaying a sans serif capital letter P with an inverted V above, which were derived from Sign E, 14a, Parking, of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, are quite common in some regions. The inverted V above some kind of symbol is used quite often to signify an activity, service, or facility that is provided inside a building. Besides the symbols shown above, often signs just intended to signify Parking are also used to identify parking garages. No specific visual stereotype can be identified for this message.

In our research we did not discover any test data on comprehensibility of pictograms used to indicate Parking Garage, but results regarding the referent Parking should be regarded when dealing with this topic.

Recommendations

As no test data from research is available, we recommend testing, 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 the best pictogram. 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. To optimize the interpretation of results, additional information should be collected at the end of these tests, to identify whether participants are holding a driving license or not.

Garage

Until then - regarding test results known for Parking - nothing is to be said against using variants similar to public information symbol No 11 of the Austrian standard ÖNORM A 3011-2.

Tests of pictograms of referent Garage

No data from tests is available.