Count up / Count down

[+PISA-caching 58]

Hi,

 

I was wondering, if there is any category for public count-downs and/or count-ups (is that the correct opposite of count-down?), like for example this one:

 

The big number shows the actual debts of Germany and the smaller number shows the increase of the debts per second.

 

I've seen such things from time to time (and I'm not talking about traffic lights with count-down functionality). Here in Vienna we have several count-ups and count-downs as part of a an art project in an underground area. They might be an interesting waymark, but I couldn't find a category that would fit.

 

Any ideas?

Edited September 25, 2014 by PISA-caching

[+fi67 96]

This is an interesting idea.

 

Except the ones that just count down the time to a given event, they tend to be temporary by design.

[+PISA-caching 58]

This is an interesting idea.

 

Except the ones that just count down the time to a given event, they tend to be temporary by design.

 

One of the count-downs I mentioned in the initial posting is counting down the days until it is safe again to live in Tschernobyl. That's also "temporary", but I think it's about 140.000 days or so. :-) I guess that Waymarking.com will not live that long. In other words: If the event is far enough in the future, it should be ok.

 

But I think all the others are counting up something (worldwide military spending this year, land mine casualties this year, eaten Wiener Schnitzels this year etc.).

 

Maybe there are also some that go up and down (for example the number of inhabitants of a city). And there are some that are calculated/estimated and maybe others that are precise. Either way, it would be great to have a category for something like that, even if you don't find one around every corner.

Edited September 25, 2014 by PISA-caching

[+Rikitan 16]

This is an interesting idea.

 

Except the ones that just count down the time to a given event, they tend to be temporary by design.

+ 1 yeah from me

[+PISA-caching 58]

Two "yes" and zero "no" votes aren't that bad, but I was hoping for more feedback. I thought that it would be interesting to see the change of the counting numbers with every visitor taking a picture of it. But I have no idea how prevalent these counters are. I can imagine, that they are quite rare, but on the other hand "Dead Vehicles" are also quite rare. :-) Or is it just, that most of you think it is boring stuff? Don't treat me with care, tell me what you think. :-)

 

Maybe you need some more examples:

 

Bike counter in NYC

Bike counter in San Francisco and Copenhagen

A wind turbine on Lamma Island with displays showing current power output and cumulative energy produced

Edited October 14, 2014 by PISA-caching

[+PISA-caching 58]

Almost 3 years ago I had this idea and 2 days ago it came to my mind again, when I took this photo. The feedback in 2014 was slim. So, I ask again: What would you think of a category for countups and countdowns? I think that some of them might be very interesting, especially if you see how the numbers changed over the months/years when you look at the gallery of the waymark.

[+Benchmark Blasterz 64]

If these countdown clocks are installed as art projects, are they temporary? 

 

I'm glad that the countdown clocks on traffic signals are excluded - that would be SERIOUSLY overprevalent. BUT are there enough of these to not be UNDERPREVALENT? 

 

The only such countdown I have seen in the US is a National Debt counting clock in Washington DC many years ago.

 

edited to add: it looks like most of these debt countdiwn clocks have migrated to the Internet, and do not have a presence in the real world. 

 

I did find one in NYC - that's 2 I know of in the US. I'll keep looking. . . 

Edited July 21, 2017 by Benchmark Blasterz

[+elyob 35]

I have seen many bike counters.

[+Benchmark Blasterz 64]

30 minutes ago, elyob said:

I have seen many bike counters.

Can you post a photo of one? I have never seen one  

[+elyob 35]

There is a link to a bike-counter in the above post by PISA-caching (14 Oct 2014), will that do?

 

Edited July 21, 2017 by elyob

[+PISA-caching 58]

10 hours ago, Benchmark Blasterz said:

If these countdown clocks are installed as art projects, are they temporary? 

 

I'm glad that the countdown clocks on traffic signals are excluded - that would be SERIOUSLY overprevalent. BUT are there enough of these to not be UNDERPREVALENT? 

 

The only such countdown I have seen in the US is a National Debt counting clock in Washington DC many years ago.

 

edited to add: it looks like most of these debt countdiwn clocks have migrated to the Internet, and do not have a presence in the real world. 

 

I did find one in NYC - that's 2 I know of in the US. I'll keep looking. . . 

 

The countdown clocks have been there for years when I started the thread and I'm sure they are still there. They are inlcuded in the stone wall panels. Next time I'm in the area i will take some phots.

 

Yes, prevelance could be a problem. I haven't seen many of them yet, but on the other hand they aren't really eyecatching like a big fountain or something. So maybe we haven't seen many of them, because we didn't search for them. :-) I think I have once seen a visitor counter at the entrance of an amusement park (Legoland maybe) and I'm sure that there are more out there. At least I know of another solar facility that lists the collected power. I will keep looking too.

[+PISA-caching 58]

Today we made a trip to a city in Austria, where we have never posted waymarks before. In fact nobody has ever posted a waymark there. It's a rather small city, that we visited because of that challenge and guess what, I found a counting display. :-) More later, when I created the according waymark.

Edited July 22, 2017 by PISA-caching

[+elyob 35]

Parkades often have counters to let drivers know which level to try first.

 

[+PISA-caching 58]

Good point. We don't own a car, therefore I never paid attention to that kind of stuff, but it makes sense. Will have an eye on that in the future. Thanks for the hint.

[+fi67 96]

We have counters at all major roads entering the inner city to show the number of free lots in all the different public car parks.

 

For me this is going a bit too broad. I like the idea of counters with a scientific, political or socio-cultural background, they are not very common, but they exist. Adding all sorts of traffic-related or sold tickets counters waters it down in my opinion.

 

I would not buy the Prevalent criterion for the cost of the Interesting one.

[+PISA-caching 58]

The problem is: Not all traffic-related counters are boring and not all scientific counters are interesting. If for example there is one place in a huge city where they count the number of passengers that cross a bridge, I would be interested to see it. If there are dozens of parkades with a counter at the entrance, it gets boring. But there are many similar examples. When I think about "Exact Replicas" I find it boring to see the many replicas of the statue of liberty and the liberty bell, but (for me) that would be no reason to exclude them. But most US waymarkers love to show that their city also has a replica of those two liberty symbols. Back to the counters: While it might be boring if you have lots of similar counters in your city, the same kind of counter might be something special in a smaller city.

Edited to add: When the category "Feed the Animals" started, I was a little worried, that there will only be waymarks like "Feed the goats", "Feed the Sheep" or any other farm animals. And yes, there are several of these, but also "Feed the Bears", "Feed the Southern Stingrays" and many more and I wouldn't want to miss the goats and sheeps either.

Edited July 24, 2017 by PISA-caching

[+PISA-caching 58]

My first uncategorized waymark with a counter.

[+elyob 35]

I guess I won't have the first waymark in that category.