Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets

Re:Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets by symplee on Monday November 05, 2018 @09:09PM (#18387785)

For markings of such importance, you'd think they would have a standardized stencil. The video of the worker spray painting seems a little too nonchalant, potentially opening the door to misreading. And if standardized, there could even be a digital reader (like an OCR?) to tell others exactly what it means in the event of confusion or differing interpretation.

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Re:Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets by xenadu02 on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @12:05AM (#18388530)

Those markings are primarily useful for indicating where -not- to dig or trench; it often doesn't matter what the markings identify.

If digging needs to intersect any of those areas it generally means doing it by hand.

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Re:Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets by notable_user on Monday November 05, 2018 @11:47PM (#18388445)

There’s not many options for what it could be, so it’s pretty easy to figure out. The color is most important, with some additional info like utility (which are few and welol known) and width.

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Re:Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets by symplee on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @12:04AM (#18388523)

I wonder how they factored in that red-green color blindness affects up to 8% of males. Should color really be the most important? Would be interesting to see what percentage of accidents are attributed to misreading a symbol vs a color vs anything else.

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Re:Decoding Utility Markings Spray-Painted on City Streets by mjevans on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @01:37AM (#18388885)

It's probably old enough that they didn't. Plus as said elsewhere, where NOT to dig. If looking to intersect it someone who can see the color correctly will have to identify the location.

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