Mooring

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Pier - Mooring, Boat Mooring, Mooring Point, Mooring Buoy, Boat Tie-up

Category

Facilities, Transportation, Transport Facilities, Travel, Public Facilities, Tourism

Message / Function

To signify boat mooring facilities

	Source	Description
	BS 8501:2002	Boat on water in front of pier, water shown as two wavy lines
	Icograda	Pier with bollard, water shown as two wavy lines
	Icograda	Pier with bollard, water shown as two wavy lines
	Parks Canada	Bollard on base with rope
	NZS 8603	Bollard on base with rope
	Dreyfuss	Bollard on base with rope
	BS 8501:2002	Bollard with rope
	USGS	Lying cylinder with rhombus above and below

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

Discussion

The referent Mooring, which can be found in very few documents on guidance signs or pictograms, is intended just for a very specific user group. For addressing the general public the referents Boats / Port, Marina, and Ferry might be more appropriate.

In our research we discovered that test results available for Mooring/Boat Tie-up in our database are regarding one pictogram only:

Evaluating the Parks Canada’s National Park and National Historic Sites symbols, also guidance and information symbols were examined using a Comprehension Test according to ISO 9186. For pictogram No 6-4-219: Boat Tie-up, labeled Parks Canada in the table above, 78 % of the responses were classified as acceptable. Reporting the results the authors state: '... however males compared to females (87% vs. 68%), those with a university education compared to those with some post secondary education (90% vs. 65%), and those earning $60K or more per year compared to those earning $30K to under $60K per year (88% vs. 68%) are more likely to provide higher levels of acceptable responses for this symbol.' (Ipsos-Reid Corporation, 2003, page 44).

Recommendations

Due to the fact that data concerning comprehensibility of the pictograms available is very limited, 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. Also information concerning knowledge about boat related activities should be collected at the end of the test, as the degree of familiarity with the referent examined has a significant impact on the validity of the data collected.

Parks Canada Guidance and Information Symbols, Pictogram No 6-4-219: Boat Tie-up

Until then nothing is to be said against using a pictogram similar to the Parks Canada Guidance and Information Symbol No 6-4-219: Boat Tie-up displayed above.

Tests of pictograms of referent Mooring

Ipsos-Reid Corporation (2003): Evaluation of Parks Canada’s National Park and National Historic Sites Symbols – Phase I.