What symbolizes infrastructure best?

Which of these best says “infrastructure?”

I love studying infrastructure. I read about it (hi, Brett), shoot pictures of it, and write about it. Though not enough of the latter. That’s why I’ve started to post again at Trunk Line, my infrastructure blog.

A post there earlier today was about “dig safe” markings (aka digsafe and dig-safe). I ran it in part so I could create a cool new site icon (and favicon). If you’ve opened any link to Trunk Line, you’ll see its eight colors, like a flag for infrastructure itself, in the page’s tab.

But I’d like a title image that says infrastructure without explanation. The 36 images above were generated by Microsoft Bing’s Image Creator, using the prompt “A collection of images representative of infrastructure, including digsafe markings, a bridge, a high-voltage tower, a culvert, a road, a traffic light. Digital art.” Clearly it didn’t know what digsafe markings are, though Bing certainly does. (Wikipedia puts them under utility location.)

Do any of those work for you? Just wondering. Suggestions for other prompts, perhaps?



3 responses to “What symbolizes infrastructure best?”

  1. I think this photo you took works the best. For me, the drains, roads, power lines, etc… are all part of the infrastructure. It’s almost too meta to have a symbol at all.

    2008_05_05_mt_auburn_bike_08

    https://flic.kr/p/4MpZGC

  2. I “vote” for the photo in the center of the upper left quadrant (or the one below it). Best to show at least two types of infrastructure. A generic image of a network covering the globe (or the U.S.) could work, too.

  3. Cool! I tested a combined image and included renewables. Maybe too messy.

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/5KJKTvphAm2CJS3H6

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