User:Sj/Save our Signs

2025/6: Save Our Signs is a project to capture photos of signage of US federal and state? parks, some of which were modified (and have photos before and after).

  • Save Our Signs site: currently has 10,000 published photos, with another 3-4k coming. These include a range of duplicates of the same sign over time / across photographers, across a wide range of dates. With Lat/Long mapped to the centroid of the relevant park.
  • Photos are all uploaded anonymously under CC-0 via a Qualtrics form. Q: what's the preferred attribution, per SOS? A: any attribution is okay per the project, could say "from Save Our Signs archive" w/ link to the site?
  • Collection variables:
site_code Three- or four-letter administrative code used by the National Park Service to identify the site
site_name Name of the National Park Service site where the photo was taken (self-reported)
site_type Type of site. Multiple designations separated by a pipe character (|).

Options include: Affiliated Area National Battlefield National Battlefield Park National Battlefield Site National Historic Park National Historic Site National Historic Trail National Historical Park National Historical Site National Lakeshore National Memorial National Military Park National Monument National Park National Parkway National Preserve National Recreation Area National Reserve National River National Scenic Trail National Seashore National Wild and Scenic River Other

file_name File name of the photo
title Title of the sign (if recorded)
date_taken Date photo was taken or contributor's best guess (self-reported)
main_image_url Link to the primary image
thumbnail_url Link to a thumbnail representation of the image
latitude Latitude (ignore for now, just a canonical center point for the park)
longitude Longitude (ignore for now, " ")
location_source The method through which "latitude" and "longitude" were assigned

Options:

  • "park centerpoint": location information is a general point within the site rather than the specific location of the sign. Centerpoints calculated from discontinuous park units are modified to be within the park boundaries. For Phase 1 of the collection, all latitudes and longitudes are assigned this way.
  • (currently there is no other option)
states The state(s) in which the site is located. Multiple designations separated by a pipe character (|).
website Link to the National Park Service website for the site
date_exported Date image was added to the AWS S3 bucket

See also

  • USAID docs have ~275k items worth checking for overlap with ZBaquet~ ! Store in G, check harmony w IA and Govscape. Separately: Qs about dbs, early warning system + demo. health svcs. But most datasets from development experience clearinghouse are a darchive, may not be available again.