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I was just thinking you might want to put the units the banwidth is given in. Probably on the card rather than the sign itself. Best to keep the signs as uncluttered as possible I think.

I assume the bandwidth given on the Kynance sign is in Mbit/s, or has this guy got a gig and a half wireless connection for everyone to use :)

Posted by Karl at June 25, 2002 02:09 PM

I love the idea, but I think it would be great if the symbols could be made more obvious as to what they were if you didn't know about them in advance.

Also, perhaps some way of distinguishing between 802.11b and 802.11a and perhaps other future versions?

Perhaps these two ideas could be combined somehow?

Posted by Mwongozi at June 25, 2002 02:18 PM

Windroses... maybe you'd rather use wind barbs?

http://www.al.noaa.gov/WWWHD/Pubdocs/windbarb.html

Posted by tbmaddux at June 25, 2002 08:26 PM

The moment I saw this site, I thought "Blade". You know, the secret Vampire gliphs they put on sides of buildings to let other Vampires know which places were hideouts? But then I saw that you're recommending putting the SSID on it, so the node owner is definitely going to notice and remove the chalk. I'd advise only using symbols that nobody else can figure out, and I'm sure they'll be up there much longer. Besides, anyone who knows about the symbols knows enough to fire up Net/Dstumbler and find the SSID themselves.

Posted by edraven at June 25, 2002 08:31 PM

Using a symbol similar to the windbarbs listed above would be good to give both direction (pointing of the arrow), Distance (in Meters), and type of connection (802.11b 1 flag, 802.11a, two flag, next? triangle flag or other).

As far as posting the SSID, I would make a mark to delineate a standard SSID like "wireless" versus a mark that means "Search for SSID"

Posted by WyrdOne at June 25, 2002 09:18 PM

Thinking more on this, the whole purpose for hobo signs are so the owner of the residence does not know what the symbols mean, otherwise they would have just wrote, "FREE HANDOUTS HERE", which is basically what putting the SSID on top is doing. A symbol which states the open/closed/wep/.11a/.11b/direction if known should be all anyone would need to jump on, as every card has ap discovering clients, even if you're not using netstumbler.

Posted by anon at June 25, 2002 10:07 PM

Actually, NetGear cards can't discover SSIDs, which probably means a few others can't either.

But most can.

Posted by Mwongozi at June 25, 2002 11:27 PM

I like the idea, but I have to agree with Mwongozi about the symbols choosen. They are not particularly obvious in two ways:

Firstly, as Mwongozi mentioned, their meaning is not particularly obvious to someone who does not know them in advance. This is not all that problematic. Anyone who needs to know will find out eventually.

Secondly, however, the symbols are rather confusing. The "open" symbol is in the shape of two back to back C's, which one might confuse with "closed". Likewise, the "closed" symbol is in the shape of a circle or letter O, which one might confuse with "open".

I'm not sure what you could do instead. Perhaps a circle with the letter O in the middle for open (a circle within a circle), a circle with the letter C in it (like copywrite) or an X across it for closed.

I like the idea of the barbs to indicate any specific directionality. Of course, the symbol would need to be drawn on an appropriately oriented surface for the barb to make much sense.

And as far as contact information goes, it might look cool if it were written around the circumference of the circles. Just a thought.

Posted by bservo at June 26, 2002 12:16 AM

OK, this IS a bloody GREAT idea but I agree with 'anon' above, it needs to be a bit less obvious what the symbology means. I think the direction element (and any other info) needs to be number based rather than a more complicated graphical format (remember these are going to be written quickly and on dodgy surfaces). My suggestion (call me a simpleton if you want) is to use an *imaginary* clockface centred on the floor where the reader reads the chalk with 12 o'clock being in the direction of the 'chalk'. For example, if the direction is behind the user when reading the 'chalk' the number 6 is incorporated below the open 'X' symbol, "1.5M/b/6" would denote 1.5 Mbs, 802.11b, and the direction is behind the user.
FWIW, I also really like the idea of chalk rather than a more permanent mark which could easily become obselete.

Posted by James at June 26, 2002 12:22 AM

I don't agree that the back-to-back C symbol is too complicated. It makes no difference whether its a circle with an o in it or anything else, you're still going to have to know what it means in advance - *that's the whole point*. Is it really that difficult to remember (its a sliced *open* circle!)? Whatever it is it needs to be easily recognisable from a distance - I like the slice circle for this.
WRT contact info my suggestion would be to place it, as an option underneath the key info forming a 3 row symbol.
Top row = sliced circle (or equivalent).
2nd row = bandwidth/type/direction[/distance if needed] (e.g. 1.5M/b/6/50)
3rd row = ICQ number

I also think it might be worth enclosing the ICQ number in some kind of marker so that the reader knows its the complete number e.g. something like (highly unoriginal but you get the idea) @8172675!

Just my 2 pence worth :-p

Posted by James at June 26, 2002 12:40 AM

I would propose an even simpler standpoint should be taken. If we assume the purpose is to mark and let others know about the existance of a WAP, then we could simplify down to one symbol.

If the access point to closed I'l figure it out pretty quickly, and if I can see the WEP key ont he symbol, I wouldn't be surprised if the administrator for the network does and makes an effort to change it.

The key is simplicity; just tell you found one in this area and I'll come back with my laptop.

Posted by John Campbell at June 26, 2002 05:50 AM

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