Groundspeak Portal

Hello everyone. Long time since I have been to the forums.

While on vacation we saw a sign for a car museum that was animated. I have searched for animated, mechanical and moving signs, billboards and have come up empty. Does anyone know of such a category or could this be a new one. Possibly for old mechanical and newer ones that are animated with lighting, but not the moving TV screen type signs and billboards that can be seen everywhere now. A requirement could be a few stop action pictures to show the actual movement if it is not clearly shown, some are evident like neon where you would see multiple neon tubes that would flash giving the appearance of motion. I remember a place called The Golden Door at Lake Of The Ozarks in Missouri that had a large gold door in the middle of the sign that rotated. I'm sure many of you have seen these type signs before. Please let me know your interest in such.

Thanks David (SearchN)

These signs are going to disappear real soon because the LED signs are able to provide more than just three messages without the distracting movement.  Since the movement is considered distracting to drivers, these kinds of signs are banned in a lot of areas.  It kind of limits the purpose of visiting if a waymark is destined to be removed.

If the movement is created by sequencing neon (i.e. the old Citgo sign at Fenway Park), then the sign should be posted in the artistic neon category.

So people will sit at a red light and watch an LED sign just like they would if they were at home in front of a TV? What makes that any less distracting then a mechanical sign? If anything, it seems like they would create more distraction with shooting fireworks, flashing text, waving flags and multiple messages. I have to question their reasoning on that one.

Those laws would also be local or regional, some would include grandfather clauses and would remain. Being a global category the laws here might not be applied in other places.

Just like drive-in theatres, I think they will still be around for some time. 

cldisme:

These signs are going to disappear real soon ....... It kind of limits the purpose of visiting if a waymark is destined to be removed.

This could be used as an argument for creating the waymarks. Preserving existing examples etc.

cldisme:

If the movement is created by sequencing neon (i.e. the old Citgo sign at Fenway Park), then the sign should be posted in the artistic neon category.

 Agreed. This would possibly limit the prevalence and scope since many of these signs are neon or simply add another crosspostable category.

RE : big moving signs.
My area banned them by city code even before the LED onslaught came about. It is always a shock to the system to travel and be assaulted by the LED billboards in areas that haven't enacted bans. Makes me thankful we don't have them here.

I was on the Florida Turnpike, and they had a set of "burma shave style" signs, I think for the IPass, but they were too close together and I know I had my eyes off the road for way too long.

For the big signs, I sometimes find myself slowing down to catch something I only caught the tail end of on my approach.

The museum sign and the Lake Of The Ozarks sign are not neon. So those could not be placed into the neon category. The museum sign appears to be metal and shows an old car with a man moving up and down as if to crank it up. True many of these old signs and billboards no longer exist, but those that do remain could be waymarked at least until the time of their demise. Anyone have any more examples?

TheBeanTeam:

cldisme:

These signs are going to disappear real soon ....... It kind of limits the purpose of visiting if a waymark is destined to be removed.

This could be used as an argument for creating the waymarks. Preserving existing examples etc.

That was my thought too. We still have some here, and I find them much more interesting than the plain flat never changing ones.

TheBeanTeam:

cldisme:

If the movement is created by sequencing neon (i.e. the old Citgo sign
at Fenway Park), then the sign should be posted in the artistic neon
category.

 Agreed. This would possibly limit the prevalence and scope since many of these signs are neon or simply add another crosspostable category.

RE : big moving signs.
My area banned them by city code even before the LED onslaught came about. It is always a shock to the system to travel and be assaulted by the LED billboards in areas that haven't enacted bans. Makes me thankful we don't have them here.

I've thought at a category for multi-coloured LED display signs because don't have a lot here... but I figured most cities have tons of them. I'd sooner see a "Racing Marque Lights" category

BQ

I think these are significantly different from LED billboards and a cool idea for a category.  I'd suggest excluding signs that simply rotate and billboards with rotating slats.  I'd also leave out LED signs of any kind -- everything from the old monochrome arrays to the new billboards.  Neon animation could go either way.  Signs that physically move and are lit by neon, like the cowboy in Vegas, certainly I'd want to see allowed.

The thing is that LED currently don't have a home an Neon signs do

gt.us:

The thing is that LED currently don't have a home an Neon signs do

Do they need home?  Stop signs don't have a home either.

OOOH stop signs good idea BruceS. What a great category idea.

RE:  LED lighted signs. Some cities have so many of them they have become overly prevelant.

I have to agree with BruceS and BeanTeam on the LED signs, they are everywhere you look.

Dinoprophet said, "I'd suggest excluding signs that simply rotate and billboards with rotating slats."

Good suggestion on not allowing rotating slat billboards.

Not allowing signs that rotate could be iffy. If the whole sign simply rotates then I'd say they should not be, but if only certain elements of the sign move with the sign itself remaining stationary or moving in say a different direction, then I would tend to allow it. Such is the case with The Golden Door. Only the door in the middle spins.

There used to be a billboard that stood at the Sunbeam Bread Co. in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. If I remember correctly it had a little girl swinging back and forth in a tree swing. If it is still there it would be a good one for such a category. Actually I found what looks to be a fairly recent picture of it. If you want to see it type in Sunbeam Bread Pine Bluff in Google Images several will be shown from somebody's blog. I'd post it but its not my pic.

I've seen LED signs that were nicer than most of the neon signs posted.

I guess the part that would sway me if I were voting for a cat would be LED signs had a permanence to them the way neon does? I don't know that much about them, just that they catch my eye, and you can't post them in the neon cat.

BruceS:

gt.us:

The thing is that LED currently don't have a home an Neon signs do

Do they need home?  Stop signs don't have a home either.

Hah! You might have just given me the incentive to get out there and waymark the solar powered blinking-LED rimmed stop signs near me (into the solar power cat).  I was just gonna blow those off...or wait to see if someone else did 'em.

thats another one thats 'everywhere'.....as ive been driving down the interstate and noticed solar panels on 'random infrastructure' wondering if someone somewhere is posting those......

How would you get the GPSr in the photograph?

Just joking!

On a serious note, there is a "billboard" of a U-Haul truck on a roof that rotates. How would this fit into the category... it definitely moves.

I know of a couple more vehicles that advertise by either rotating, or the wheels move... something like that.

Probably wouldn't if I get the leaning of the OP. The U-Haul one would fit in the Elevated Everyday Objects category and maybe the U-Haul cat if it has a graphic that hasn't been waymarked yet. 

Awesome, now I just wish I had taken a photograph... Can't always keep nearly 1000 categories in my mind while I am out.

Thanks!

"On a serious note, there is a "billboard" of a U-Haul truck on a roof that rotates. How would this fit into the category... it definitely moves."

Since there are other categories for these and not being true signs but objects turned into signs, I'd lean towards not having them in the category unless they had more motion.

Even at that, unless it was a single piece integrated into the signs overall design or had more action to it like a driver bouncing up and down or figures loading it with boxes for example, then it would still only be a spinning sign and would not qualify anyway. (if that indeed was one of the rules.) A car with spinning wheels could be considered because it is a stationary sign with the wheels in motion.

A sign or billboard made to imitate motion or action rather than just a sign that rotates. If the subject is a person or object it will more likely than not, try to mimic its real life counterpart. A vehicle typically does not spin down the highway. A ball or globe would because that is how it actually moves. Abstract objects are not bound by these rules. like many other categories there will always be the exception. That's where letting your officers decide comes in.

Not so common anymore, but at one time some billboards would have clocks with actual hour minute and second hands that worked. If you do see one now it is almost certain to be LED with time and temp. If a waymarker happened to come across one of these old billboards still around I would consider allowing these into the category. Technically that could be considered a mechanical motion integrated into the billboard. Those might also be accepted in the "Town Clocks" category if they are considered freestanding. I browsed through and did not notice any so the chances of having one submitted might be fairly low anyway. Racing or running lights would not fit into this category either.

This was meant to be a reply to gparks questions but I hit the wrong reply button.

gt.us:

I've seen LED signs that were nicer than most of the neon signs posted. I guess the part that would sway me if I were voting for a cat would be LED signs had a permanence to them the way neon does? I don't know that much about them, just that they catch my eye, and you can't post them in the neon cat.

I guess it depends on the type of sign for LEDs.  Every other building on a main street through a town may have a scrolling red LED message board.  Bo-ring.  One might make a case for newer, more sophisticated LED signs.

I have created a group for anyone interested in getting this potential category started. If you wish to participate please join the Mechanical Marvels.

I was just thinking yesterday that this might make a good category. I'm looking forward to seeing this develope!!