Is there an official set of FHWA Series fonts?

[agentsteel53]

I think A was formally retired in 1968, but states kept using it for a while longer.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Looking at my PDF copy of the 2004 SHS book, the metadata says "SeriesB2000", "SeriesC2000", "SeriesD2000", "SeriesE2000", "SeriesModE2000" and "SeriesF2000".

[Quillz]

Looking at my PDF copy of the 2004 SHS book, the metadata says "SeriesB2000", "SeriesC2000", "SeriesD2000", "SeriesE2000", "SeriesModE2000" and "SeriesF2000".

When extracting those PDF images into Illustrator, though, the fonts are not embedded because it does a substitution. Do you know who actually makes those fonts in question?

[MDOTFanFB]

Speaking of the SHS, the 2006 Michigan SHS mentions that Clearview fonts are used when appropriate and that Local Agency details are non-clearview for use only off-trunklines.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Looking at my PDF copy of the 2004 SHS book, the metadata says "SeriesB2000", "SeriesC2000", "SeriesD2000", "SeriesE2000", "SeriesModE2000" and "SeriesF2000".

When extracting those PDF images into Illustrator, though, the fonts are not embedded because it does a substitution. Do you know who actually makes those fonts in question?

The fonts are probably embedded but only partially (incomplete character set).

I have no idea who made those.

[Quillz]

Well, I was asking around on another board when I came into contact with someone who works for the Virginia DOT and they sent me a copy of the fonts they use for real signage and what not. The fonts are called "T2000DOTHWY[B-F]."

You can get them here: http://www.quillz.net/misc/DOT.zip - As these are actually being used by a DOT, I suppose they are about as "official" as you can get.

Comparing it to the popular Roadgeek fonts, they look near identical, as you'd probably expect, but the kerning is slightly different, and E(M) and F both have 6 and 9 numerals with pointier tips, much more pronounced than on the Roadgeek fonts.

[Alps]

Well, I was asking around on another board when I came into contact with someone who works for the Virginia DOT and they sent me a copy of the fonts they use for real signage and what not. The fonts are called "DOTHWY[B-F]."

You can get them here: http://www.quillz.net/misc/DOT.zip - As these are actually being used by a DOT, I suppose they are about as "official" as you can get.

Comparing it to the popular Roadgeek fonts, they look near identical, as you'd probably expect, but the kerning is slightly different, and E(M) and F both have 6 and 9 numerals with pointier tips, much more pronounced than on the Roadgeek fonts.

Dude, sweet! Thanks.

[Quillz]

As I stated, these "official" fonts differ somewhat from the popular Roadgeek fonts, but comparing them to the fonts used in the SHS (2004) manual, they look to be virtually identical. Here's a closeup of the "9" used in Series E-F:







The SHS alphabets are on the left, the VDOT fonts are on the right. I've enlarged both as much as possible and they seem identical, although it's possible zooming in more might show some very slight deviations.

[Central Avenue]

Well, I was asking around on another board when I came into contact with someone who works for the Virginia DOT and they sent me a copy of the fonts they use for real signage and what not. The fonts are called "DOTHWY[B-F]."

You can get them here: http://www.quillz.net/misc/DOT.zip - As these are actually being used by a DOT, I suppose they are about as "official" as you can get.

Comparing it to the popular Roadgeek fonts, they look near identical, as you'd probably expect, but the kerning is slightly different, and E(M) and F both have 6 and 9 numerals with pointier tips, much more pronounced than on the Roadgeek fonts.

Awesome! Thanks for that.

[Quillz]

And here's a comparison between the VDOT fonts I was sent and the commonly used Roadgeek 2005 fonts. I used a Series C "240" and zoomed in about 4000% so you can see the very minor kerning and character design differences:



The character parts outlined in gold are the Roadgeek fonts and the parts outlined in black are the VDOT fonts. As you can see, the creator of the Roadgeek fonts was incredibly accurate... At a standard 100% zoom, the eye simply cannot distinguish a difference between the two.

EDIT: Here's a much better comparison, at a zoom level much closer to normal:



The gray numbers are Roadgeek 2005 Series C, so the bits of white poking out from underneath show the slight differences in the VDOT font.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I'll have to keep using Roadgeek though, as this font set lacks diacritics.

[Quillz]

Yes, it would appear it's not an expanded set for international use, which is what FHWA.org is selling. But considering it's used by Virginia, I can't really say I was expecting it to have a bunch of extra characters.

But I guess it's good to know how extremely accurate the Roadgeek fonts are, at least in regards to the FHWA Series. I know the Clearview clones aren't very accurate, and I'm not sure how it stacks up to the international fonts.

[J N Winkler]

Comparing it to the popular Roadgeek fonts, they look near identical, as you'd probably expect, but the kerning is slightly different, and E(M) and F both have 6 and 9 numerals with pointier tips, much more pronounced than on the Roadgeek fonts.

I think that is probably a deliberate error, created for copyright verification.  I have suspected SignCAD of doing the same with the "S" in Series D in one of the older versions of SignCAD.  (BTW, there are multiple versions of signcad.rsc floating around--I have come across several--and the incompatibilities are dismaying.)

BTW, I think the fonts received from the VDOT employee are probably the TrueType fonts packaged with GuidSIGN, which is VDOT's standard traffic signing CAD package.  The MUTCD uses URW fonts.

[Quillz]

Interesting. I've looked into it, and URW are the foundry that also released Saa, which I've used for quite a while because it included Series A. But it seems to be based on a standard older than 2000, as several numerals, especially the 8, do not seem to match the current SHS alphabet.

[hbelkins]

Since Virginia is now using a lot of Clearview, I'd expect them to come out with a knockoff pretty soon.

[Quillz]

Wouldn't they just use the official fonts? Seems the makers of Clearview have no issues selling them to anyone, I just went on their website and bought them. I imagine they'd just sell them outright to the DOT, as well.

[averill]

Almost all the knock-off are as good as the FHWA fonts, and yes there is a standard book showing these.  I have two of them.  There is no copywrite because they are in the public domain.

Also deathtopumpkins is right, there are so many variations used on "real" signs. Roadgeek 2005 fonts is fine.  Most of the ones out there are so close to the 1972 imperial book, and the 1978 metric equivalent, you really can't tell the difference.  I also have the 1961 edition which shows the now defunct "A" series letters.