pedestrian crossing signal quests have confusing imagery

[TinfoilSubmarine]

Use case

Better prompt users to understand what the crossing signal quests are about at a glance.

Proposed Solution

The crossing:signals quest currently uses an icon that is reminiscent of the traffic signals used for cars:

The rest of the quests related to traffic lights for crossings use a different, but still confusing, traffic light that is still reminiscent of car-oriented signals:

After doing some searching online across different regions, I have the impression that the predominant design features of pedestrian traffic signals are:

• Colored icons/portraits instead of simple lights
• Icons/portraits that clearly differentiate when pedestrians should and should not cross
• (Optional, maybe opportunity for another quest) Timer counting down how much longer the pedestrian has

It would be great if we could improve these icons to better represent what the user is likely looking at on the ground. I would be happy to assist with further brainstorming, or even designing the icons, but am not super familiar with the tools needed.

[westnordost]

Hmm, I don't really see the problem. The icons serve the purpose to tell the user it is "something about traffic lights". (Blue background always means: something for pedestrians)

So, the first icon is shown when this question is posed:

Are there traffic signals that show when to cross here?

When there are traffic signals for pedestrians, there'll also be traffic lights for cars.

The second icon's design mimics (but simplifies) the usual design of pedestrian crossing signals in Europe - two lights, red and green, in the shape of a little man stopping / walking:

Changing the circle to a hand or a little man would be too much detail for the icon that would barely be visible.

[TinfoilSubmarine]

Hmm, I don't really see the problem. The icons serve the purpose to tell the user it is "something about traffic lights". (Blue background always means: something for pedestrians)

Yes, the blue background indicates this quest is about pedestrians, but I will note that nearly all of the other icons have additional indicators to remind the user that it is a pedestrian quest (icon of a pedestrian is incorporated in the graphic).

So, the first icon is shown when this question is posed:

Are there traffic signals that show when to cross here?

When there are traffic signals for pedestrians, there'll also be traffic lights for cars.

Ok, but the converse is not necessarily true (when there are traffic lights for cars, there will be traffic signals for pedestrians), which is why this quest exists. I think this mismatch can confuse users as to which signal this quest is talking about. Yes, users should be attentive to the wording, but also we should try not to confuse them if possible.

The second icon's design mimics (but simplifies) the usual design of pedestrian crossing signals in Europe - two lights, red and green, in the shape of a little man stopping / walking:

Changing the circle to a hand or a little man would be too much detail for the icon that would barely be visible.

The "Do these traffic lights have a button to request a walk signal" already includes a hand, and I think the visibility on that icon is perfectly fine.

[westnordost]

The hand in that icon is for the hand that should push the button, though :-)

[TinfoilSubmarine]

Sure, but that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that an icon already exists with a hand in it, and there are no concerns about its visibility:

Changing the circle to a hand or a little man would be too much detail for the icon that would barely be visible.

[westnordost]

Oh I see, that was your point. Well, the red and green circles in the traffic signals are much smaller than that hand.

[Bauer33333]

The question doesn't ask whether there are pedestrian signals, but if a pedestrian has to obey signals. There are countries where intersections look like this: There even is a proposal to tag these differences: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposal:Crossing_signalization

[westnordost]

StreetComplete tags crossing:signals=yes/no

[westnordost]

I've decided this as will-not-fix.

While it would be possible to replace the current icon with an icon that more represents pedestrian-style traffic lights like seen in the second picture in the starter post, it would still have the potential to confuse users that don't live in areas where there are European-style pedestrian traffic lights. To find a pedestrian-style traffic lights icon that would be recognizable easily in any region might be difficult.

But this doesn't matter that much in the end, because the quest's question doesn't actually ask about dedicated pedestrian traffic signals, and this is deliberate specifically because of the proposal mentioned by @Bauer33333 . I.e. users should answer "yes" (or at least: "Can't say") if there are any traffic lights at that intersection that also pertain to pedestrians. So, it can very much be like in this diagram or like in the photo above (if these traffic lights pertain to pedestrians, AFAIK that tagging schema)

So, in this light, the current icon is actually (very slightly) helpful.