Tourist sign
A tourist information sign (also Tourist Under the direction of board ) is a traffic sign that road users should to tourist destinations, such as monuments, special landscapes and cultural sites, point. International this largely brown signs with white letters and white pictograms are used.
Mid-1970s, the tourist information sign was introduced in France. Since that time, the idea to point tourists by means of a uniform signage to places worth visiting, spread all over the world. In Germany, tourist information sign ( Burg Teck ) was first used in 1984; the board Löwenstein Mountains next.
Areas of application
In principle, three applications of tourist signs can be distinguished:
- Note signs and directions to make major tourist destinations in the vicinity, so for example, within the village, and draw attention to it.
- Itineraries with a special theme, so-called tourist or scenic routes are marked using a uniform signage.
- Landscapes, cities and regions with lower direction boards, which are usually located on highways, announced. These signs, however, does not serve as a guide.
Examples
Tourist Under the direction of board as a reminder of the German division
Note on a river which is crossed by a highway bridge
Tourist Under the direction of board of Schwäbisch Gmünd
Under the direction board on the border of Saxony / Thuringia
Design and criticism
In many countries, guidelines have been established for the design and installation of tourist signs to obtain a uniform appearance. Besides color in brown and white sans serif fonts are used on the signs usually are easy to recognize. In contrast serif in Switzerland to distinguish be used for other signs.
In order to improve the readability for tourists, a bilingual inscription is possible. The pictograms used should be simple and yet meaningful held and are not shown colorful.
Critics complain that the labels often contain too much information and the road user distract from the action on the street. Furthermore, the number of tourist signs to magnify continuously, because more and less important goals would be signposted.