How to render fire stations

[wmisener]

Fire stations are one of the last 'community anchor' POIs (#435) for the style to render. There is no one clear iconography associated with them IMO, so I think we could go a number of directions. Therefore, I thought I'd create an issue to discuss possibilities before starting a PR. A few of the options as I see them (further ideas welcome!):

• A classic one used in other OSM maps is a flame icon. This is the approach of e.g. Carto, Maki, and OSMAnd. I find this somehow both intuitive (obviously it's fire) and counter-intuitive (wait, don't firefighters put out fires?!?). It also could be confused with legitimate fire icons we might want in the future, like for firepits.
  

• Another option would be a fire truck symbol. This more clearly represents firefighters to me, and would be pretty recognizable iconography. It might be a challenge to get a good looking 20x20px symbol though. One model might be MUTCD W11-8:

• One other option that could work is the "Firefighter's cross", something like below. This would have a nice synergy with our badge symbol for police stations. I don't know whether it's widely associated with firefighters outside the US, or recognizable enough on its own. Maybe with the flame in the center?
  

• Are there other symbols commonly associated with firefighters, but not easily confused with the literal object? Some things that came to mind are hoses, axes, and ladders, but I don't think those would be very clear/distinctive. Maybe those distinctively shaped hats could work?

Anyways, curious what others think.

[watmildon]

The first thing that came to my mind was the hat but I wonder if it's distinct enough from other hard hats.

[1ec5]

The examples in my collection are rather uninspiring:

I saw these in the road atlas section of a map library, same deal:

[dBitech]

I think a firetruck can be made to work.... here is an example at 20x10 From this SVG I found on my PC (Original source unknown) it would require a redraw. mind you

[adamfranco]

I've seen photos of firefighters from other parts of the world using significantly different helmets, but the wide sloping back-brim is maybe common enough to be interpreted globally even if it is not the current model in use everywhere.

See also:

• https://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/ppe/trends-in-fire-helmet-design/#gref
• https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/personal-protective-equipment-ppe/helmets/articles/code-3-podcast-the-great-helmet-debate-iconic-look-vs-european-design-XtzPiOLkpDCLHney/

That said, I like the little truck too!

[whubsch]

I like the truck but I can't quite envision how you could make it discernible at 20 pixels or less. One thought I had was reusing the police badge icon, but with the fire emblem in the middle, something like this:

[1ec5]

One thought I had was reusing the police badge icon, but with the fire emblem in the middle, something like this:

I’ve seen this emblem a bit as well, always in red alongside a blue police badge icon, mostly on signs but occasionally on maps. We happen to color police station icons in blue because our color palette assigns blue to any POI in the “Infrastructure” category. Fire stations would also count as infrastructure, but if we take this badge, recolor it in blue, and shrink it down to a POI icon size, I’m not sure it would be easy to distinguish it from a police station.

[wmisener]

A few attempts, based on the comments above and on Slack:
Police shield with flame:

Firefighter cross with flame:

Fire truck, roughly traced from #1036 (comment):

I think the truck might be too finicky/detailed for the style, especially compared to the other "civic" icons. There is some room for the icon to be taller, so I could try that. I feel like making the truck as tall as it is wide will throw off its aspect ratio though. I skipped the hat idea because it seemed harder to draw lol, but I could give it a shot if someone strongly prefers it.

I think either of the first two badges work pretty well! The reused police shield has the pro of increasing style cohesiveness, but the con of making fire stations seem like a subset of police stations. I'd say I'd weakly prefer the cross icon, but would be happy with either.

Opinions and other ideas welcome!

[wmisener]

Also, took a photo of a trail map on a hike recently to help me verify some path names, and realized later that I accidentally captured a fire station icon in the wild! It was a firefighter cross style. This was in a California State Park.

[whubsch]

I like the "cross" one actually. It looks more American to me than the shield. Is there a way to make the external edges a little less wavy/curvy and more rounded like the California State Park map you have a picture of? I think making it a little less ornate might help it fit in better with the other icons, because there's a lot already going on with the flame in the middle.

[wmisener]

Good idea, I think this looks better

Possible the proportions could still be tweaked, but I think this is a good track! Open for input though

[ZeLonewolf]

Until you look really close, the cross looks like one of those diving bell helmets. I think if you go with the Maltese cross shaped firefighter symbol, you have to drop the flame from it and go with a clean shaped ones. If you want the flame, I think the badge shape works better.

[whubsch]

I have to say I don't see the helmet, but we could go more in the direction of the FDNY logo, with a divided ring around the flame. A quick mockup (not even centered 😅):

[wmisener]

Finally found myself some time to come back to this. I can see where the diving helmet visual impression is coming from, although I can't really say I see it myself. But I can appreciate that maybe the maltese cross with flame has too much going on for its own good. I tried out a version without the flame icon:

Removing the flame also allows one to shrink the circle relative to the "fins", which could be a promising direction:

Although I feel like the proportions of this particular one are somehow not quite right...but maybe that's just me.

I also tried to make the FDNY style one suggested above:

I think this looks a little like a firepit to me, but I'm open to it. Maybe the ring needs to be thicker?

Now with these and the above shield and flame designs, there are many (too many?) options, fair enough for a relatively hard-to-represent POI. Interested to see which direction people like the most, if any!

[wmisener]

The police shield/badge emblazoned with a flame got by far the most fire emoji reacts on the Slack channel, so I'll make a PR with that design