Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Shields

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Contents

[edit] A couple of things...

Here's a couple of things that have been on my mind since the beginning of the project:

  • Now that the Interstate shields are named "I-X.svg", this makes the naming of the old state-specific shields ("Interstate 390 (New York).svg", for example) a bit tedious, lengthy and outdated. What I propose is that these shields be renamed to "I-X (State).svg" or "I-X (ST).svg" to match the new Interstate shields.
  • County route shields are currently named in the format "(County) County Route X (State).svg" although a county route sign for Orange County, New York would (theoretically) be the same sign for Orange County, Florida. What I propose is that the State abbreviation be dropped from the names of all county route shields and that the shields are reorganized on the commons by county name and not by state. Thoughts? --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 03:58, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Well, Orange County, NY doesn't use the standard pentagon, but rather a diamond with a county outline inside... ;) —Scott5114↗ 18:27, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
      • Oops, bad example. =) Oh well. In any case, I think the point I made is still clear, that in most cases the county shield is the same no matter what the state is. I knew someone was going to catch me on that example though... =) --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 18:37, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where's the instruction manual?

I wouldn't mind helping out but I don't know how to create the shields. I had used SPUI to make shields in the past, but since he has parted ways with wikipedia, I am looking elsewhere for help. Can someone help me out on how to create them? What software to use? etc... I would prefer a free software if that is possible. Thanks. --Holderca1 19:37, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

I'd be more than happy to impart my SVG knowledge to everyone here. I can write a quick how-to piece on the Designing sub-page if desired. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 19:47, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
Inkscape is very powerful for SVGs - and very free. I found that the be the best - Adobe Illustrator has many issues in it regarding SVGs. (besides not being free) --• master_sonLets talk 19:50, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
I tried using Inkscape, but couldn't figure out how to create the shields in it. A walkthough on Inkscape would be great, I couldn't figure out how to get the right font, what do you use as a starting point, the blank shield? --Holderca1 13:56, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
I've posted some comments over at the Designing page. If you have more questions, feel free to ask them over there. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 18:56, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moving SVGs from Wikipedia to the Commons

Hey all. There's a number of shields currently on Wikipedia that would be better utilized on the Commons (ability to categorize them, etc.). Does anyone know of any policy regarding the migrating of images to the Commons and any procedure that needs to be carried out? For the record, the shields I'm referring to are shields for Colorado and the blank Washington shield. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 18:33, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it is policy or not, but I do believe it is prefered to place all images on the commons. That way the other wikiprojects can access the images. Just in case someone wanted to write an article in Japanese on State Road 85 in Florida. --Holderca1 13:30, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The formal renaming proposal

As an extension of my comments a couple of sections up, here's my formal proposal for renaming state-specific Interstate shields and county route shields:

  • Intra-state Interstate shields: To match the renaming of all neutered Interstate shields to "I-x.svg", intra-state Interstate shields should be renamed I-x (2-letter abbrev.).svg. Many of the state-specific shields need to be redone anyway (inaccurate borders, fonts, etc.), so moving the shields around won't be too much of a problem.
  • County route shields: Because most counties across the United States use the standard pentagonal shield shape for county routes, there is no difference between shields in counties with the same name in different states (most of the time). For this reason, the current naming convention is flawed and the new convention should be County County Route x.svg.
    • There is an exception, however. Some counties do not use the standard blue pentagon and use other shield shapes/colors/etc. in their place. Shields in these cases should continue to use the current naming convention.

--TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 03:00, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

Since no one's said anything about this in the 15 days that this issue has been on the table, I'm going to assume that everyone's in agreement and I'll begin to implement the changes. I'll hold off on the county route shields for now though, as that's a system not looking for a fix. There's nothing wrong with the way they are now (plus there's too many that would need "fixing"). What does need fixing are the interstate shields, though, so I'll work on getting these changed to the new format. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 03:01, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Indiana shields

I have been looking for the exact dimensions of the Indiana shields with no luck. I decided to take the images from their MUTCD (MUTCD Indiana Supplement Part 2D) to design new shields, but it appears that they use different fonts on the same shield, for example, it appears on the example of IN 114, the font for "INDIANA" is font D, while the numbers are in font C. I have created a few examples,

Any feedback would be appreciated. --Holderca1 22:28, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Okay, made a few adjustments, I think these are pretty close to the real thing, did some looking around and it appears that INDOT is not very consistent on their shields. --Holderca1 03:09, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
From personal experience, Indiana Route shields look pretty much the same as Illinois Route shields, just the text "Illinois" changed to "Indiana". V60 04:06, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
See this page [1] to explain my confusion. There are some versions of the shield that are very similar to Illinois, but some that are not, other than being black and white and square. The latest version of images that I created were based on the gif images that is currently being used on the Indiana pages. To be honest, I think the reason that I can't find any specs is that there aren't any, it looks like the state leaves it up to the districts or however its divided to create the signs, as long as they are black and white, square and say "INDIANA" at the top is okay. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not sure though. --Holderca1 13:50, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Maine and Massachusetts

Do they both use the same exact shields? Just curious, they are using the Massachusetts shields on the Maine pages, just wanted to make sure they were just not confusing the MA state abbreviation for Maine. --Holderca1 15:43, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] South Dakota Shields

There is currently a problem with the South Dakota shields. Please refrain from using the 2D shields for now until the issue has been resolved. --• master_sonLets talk 16:47, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

The shields have been repaired and are now functioning normally. • master_sonLets talk 20:23, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Minnesota Shields - PNG to SVG

Just wanted to check to see if anyone has started working on SVGs for the Minnesota highway shields which are currently in PNG. I assume that we will need to convert them (however possible) - If I'm wrong, or otherwise, please advise. Thank you • master_sonLets talk 02:11, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think anyone's started working on SVGs for Minnesota. There are templates on the commons for MN SVGs, however, so if anyone wants to take on that task, feel free. I'd do it myself but I have a personal backlog about as bad as the assessment one. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 02:23, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
I put a note into the last one to make the rest of the PNGs (Sable232?) - and will take on the task otherwise • master_sonLets talk 02:29, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
I have no way to create SVG images. The only reason I could do the PNGs in the first place was because my drawing program had that capability. I can't use Inkscape at this time because it requires some kind of software that I don't have. --Sable232 22:55, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
I'll start making the SVGs then. We'll have to convert the routebox to {{infobox road}} as well - All of the info on the old one can be retained during the conversion. Once I have a working copy I can send it by the wikiproject for clarification if needed • master_sonLets talk 23:39, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shields are still disappearing

Evidently, Bug ID 5463 is still around, because the US 92 shield(as well as plenty of others) is blank. ---- DanTD 17:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Image:US 92.svg purged and fixed. If you notice any more that appear blank either at certain resolutions or on their image page, post them here (as I can then purge them) or you can purge them yourself. See WP:PURGE for more details (though be advised that Commons images will need to be purged at the Commons, not locally). --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 19:47, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunatley, it's still disappearing, and so are US 98, FL 26, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 616, and 618. I posted some shields on the Florida State Road 50 page and had to upsize US 92 to get it to show up. There's a new exit list for Interstate 10 in Alabama which is missing US 98 shields, and a far as the infoboxes for Florida State Road 26, Florida State Road 54, Florida State Road 616, etcetera, well, see for yourself. ---- DanTD 23:07, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
I say if you find shields that don't work after purging, request them at Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Shields/Requests, make sure to state that they aren't working as the reason for recreation. --Holderca1 00:02, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Requests process streamlined

You may try it out on the request page, but click "Preview" instead of save. V60 VTalk - VDemolitions 00:43, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tennessee Shield problem

I was wondering if anyone has run into this problem with other shields, but according to the standard drawing for Tennessee shields, D font is used, the problem arrises on the 3 digit shields and using the height from the standard drawing, many do not fit on the shield. The example they list Tennessee 155 just so happens to fit, and designing that specific shield in Inkscape yields a shield that looks just like that shield, but with any 3 digit shield that doesn't have a one in it, it doesn't fit. On the shield created by SPUI awhile back, Image:Tennessee 840.svg, he used C font to get it to fit. I suppose I could manually adjust the width to get it to fit properly, but wanted others input. --Holderca1 15:06, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I went ahead and finished all the shields that were requested, will get them uploaded this afternoon. I just manually adjusted the width without adjusting the height to fit them in. If they look odd, then I will work on it, if anyone has a 3-digit picture of a real shield, that would also be helpful. --Holderca1 15:58, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Alright, everyone can disregard this, looking into a bit deeper, I pulled up the TN county maps and all the shields in question are of secondary state routes and use a different shield. I will correct the I-26 article when I complete and upload the shields. --Holderca1 17:46, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, I thought I had figured it out, but some 3-digit routes don't fit on the secondary shields either. So I decided to go digging for photos of real life shields to solve the problem, now I am just more confused. Secondary Route 57 shield in C font, Primary Route 57 shield in D font, Primary Route 385 shield in C font, Primary Route 840 shield in D font, so I will just go with what works. --Holderca1 19:34, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moving images in the Commons

Does anyone know how to move an image or change its name in the commons? --Holderca1 18:39, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/i/k/Wikipedia_talk%7EWikiProject_U.S._Roads_Shields_9a12.html"