By Andrew Liszewski
Designed by Jiae Kwon, Map-Holes are replacement man-hole covers that serve as a sort of static compass for tourists and pedestrians, showing them what direction to head to find a particular landmark in the city they’re visiting, and letting them know how long it takes to walk there. The idea definitely has merit, but I don’t think replacing man-hole covers is the ideal solution. Not only because they usually exist in the middle of a street, but they’d also have to be perfectly oriented in order for them to be effective. If one gets even slightly misaligned, there’s going to be a lot of misguided tourists.
[ Yanko Design – Map Hole Points The Way ] VIA [ The UberReview ]
Heres a wild idea…how about a big notice that shows tourists where places are. I know I know this sounds crazy but we can place it on sidewalks where pedestrians can actually see them without the risk of being hit by a car. Im all for killing tourists visiting my city because they are always bugging me for directions but imagine the flies on the roads when their carcasses decay. We can name these big notices as ' SIGN BOARDS' [ mental note: must copyright this term asap] and maybe even put a light above it to pretty it up.
Misalignment is not an issue as you just need to put a guide pin in. That forces it to be placed the same every time.
Actually I have one of these in my house and it's very helpful when i need to go to the bathroom. Of course I end up in the basement allot when the cover is off.
Cmon now, those orange vest construction guys are about the most meticulous people i know! I'm sure they'd take extra care to replace the cover in the perfect orientation every time. And kids would never mess with it either.
Hmm, I see this every day in Seattle. While it's not necessarily as specific as “here you are”, it's a map of our city in the cover. 🙂
Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/troubadourbaker/40…
I agree with everyone's concern of misalignment and the fact of danger. Franco's idea is much better. Neat idea to use the space for something other than nothing, but I'm concerned with lots of things that can go wrong.
I know this comment is late, and alas it's too dark in the street to take a picture on an iPhone but for the record, they covers like this all over Berlin, pointing tourists toward major landmarks. TBH they're fairly indecipherable, what you can glean from them is really only the vaguely which direction the massive tower you can see on the horizon is.
I know this comment is late, and alas it's too dark in the street to take a picture on an iPhone but for the record, they covers like this all over Berlin, pointing tourists toward major landmarks. TBH they're fairly indecipherable, what you can glean from them is really only the vaguely which direction the massive tower you can see on the horizon is.