(image: gigdoggy)
When we run out of space for billboards on our roads' sides, we'll embed jingles into the pavement.
GigDoggy: "A Japanese engineer by the name of Shizuo Shinoda was the first to come up with the brilliant idea of transforming roads into a playback medium. The system works by cutting thousands of little grooves in the asphalt that produce a sound when a vehicle drives over them. The grooves are a few millimeters deep and 6 to 12 millimeters wide, and the closer you bring them together the higher the pitch will be when driven over. Production cost is about $20 000. Mr Shinoda got the idea by driving his car over markings a bulldozer had previously scraped off a street and realized he was generating a series a tones."
Video below: music roads in Japan.
From WSJ (thank you, Robert): the making-of video of the Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, CA that played an overture from William Tell until nearby residents complained. It is now being rebuilt elsewhere.
I'm surprised there aren't more roads like this! It seems like an easy way to turn a no-name town into a tourist attraction in no time. I guess it would get a little annoying if you had to drive over it every day, but just make it on a non-commute road, and you've got a winner.
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea, definitely guerrilla marketing at its finest. It seems like it may be tough to implement on a large scale, but I guess it makes it stand out even more for those the few that use this medium.
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