OAAA Digital Lighting Webinar

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• OAAA Digital Lighting Webinar
• July 15, 2008

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• Digital Lighting 101
• Bill Ripp
• Incoming Chairman, OAAA Digital Committee

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How does the digital light "work?"

• Normal Diode Anode and Cathode legs
• Semiconductor materials doped with chemical
  impurities
• Gallium Arsenide Red
• Gallium Nitride Green
• Shape of LED encasement
• Physical Pixel
• Surface Mount Pixel

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How is digital light measured?

• Illuminance vs. luminance
• Viewing Angle vs. Luminance Output

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What are some terms used when discussing digital
light issues?

• LED Displays
• Candelas/ Square meter Also known as Nits
• Lux or Foot-candles
• Projectors
• Lumens

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Why are foot-candles or lux preferred over
candelas/meter when discussing LED lighting?

• Ambient light conditions
• Cost of measurement equipment
• Based on standards from the Illuminating
  Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)

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What equipment is used to measure digital light?

• Candelas/Square meter is measured with a
  Luminance Meter or (Nit Gun)
• Cost of equipment can exceed 3,000
• Foot Candles or Lux is measured with a light
  meter
• Cost of equipment around 300

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How much light is needed for nighttime visibility
and legibility?

• Varies widely based on ambient conditions
• Dark lightless areas 300 nits or less
• Brightly lit areas 750 nits or more

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How does the OAAA lighting recommendations work?

• Position Light meter at prescribed distance.
• Billboard Dimensions (ft.) Distance/ft
• Poster 150
• 10.6 x 36 200
• 14 x 48 250
• 20 x 60 350

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• Run full black copy on LED display.
• Take light measurement in foot-candles or Lux
• Run full white copy on LED display
• Take light measurement.
• Pass -If difference is less than or equal to 0.3
  foot-candles or3.23 lux, brightness is good.
• Fail - If difference is more than 0.3
  foot-candles or3.23 lux, brightness is too high
  and needs to be adjusted downward.

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Why does each sign need a light sensor or
photocell?

• Ambient Light Conditions Clouds, Thunderstorms
• Sidereal time changes

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Does digital light spill into the night sky?

• Much Less than traditional bottom illuminated
  billboards
• Louvers
• Vertical viewing angles

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• Current Climate
• The overall regulatory environment nationally
• A summary of the FHWA memo from 9-25-07
• OAAA code of principles, re. lighting
• Model language, per Bill Ripps advice
• American Planning Association initiatives
• Tips to avoid mistakes

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State of the States

• Currently 39 states allow some form of changeable
  message/digital technology
• Most recent states to clarify their rules
  Indiana and Texas

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Rules and Regulations

• FHWA Memo
• Proposed laws, regulations, and procedures that
  would allow permitting CEVMS subject to
  acceptable criteria (as described below) do not
  violate a prohibition against intermittent or
  flashing or moving lights as those terms are
  used in the various FSAs that have been entered
  into during the 1960s and 1970s.

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OAAA Code

• We are committed to ensuring that the commercial
  and noncommercial messages disseminated on
  standard-size digital billboards will be static
  messages and the content shall not include
  animated, flashing, scrolling, intermittent or
  full-motion video elements (outside established
  entertainment areas).
• We are committed to ensuring that the ambient
  light conditions associated with standard-size
  digital billboards are monitored by a light
  sensing device at all times and that display
  brightness will be appropriately adjusted as
  ambient light levels change.

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Local Flavor

• Approximately 300 local jurisdictions allow some
  form of changeable message/digital technology
• Two most recent cities to clarify their local
  ordinances were Milwaukee, WI and Tulsa, OK

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Building-blocks of a Model Ordinance

• Measurement criteria (.3 foot candles over
  ambient light levels)
• Not Clause (no flashing, scrolling, intermittent
  light or video)
• Light sensor unit

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Avoid Pitfalls

• Use foot candles not nits
• Watch out for local reinterpretation (to ban
  digital technology)
• Stay away from on-premise issues
• Stay informed about latest traffic safety research

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Opposition Tactics

• APA and has brightness recommendations
• Nighttime and daytime criteria

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Model Ordinance Language

• Mesa, AZ
• ILLUMINATION RESTRICTIONS
• All electronic variable message displays (EVMDs)
  shall comply with the following limitations on
  brightness
• EVMDs shall be equipped with a mechanism to
  control brightness through the means of an
  automatic dimming device or a scheduled dimming
  program, such that the brightness of the display
  (measured in candelas per square meter, or nits),
  when measured in comparison with ambient lighting
  conditions (measured in lux)

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Lessons Learned from the Field

• Case study Tulsa, OK
• Bill Hickman, Hickman and Fitzpatrick, PLLC

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Lesson 1 Public does not know what a digital
billboard is

• Public perception that digital billboards are TV
  screens i.e., flashing, moving, blinking, etc.
• Industry educated public on two fronts
• (1) What it is
• (2) What it is not
• Presented video clips comparing digital
  billboards with other signs
• Presented OAAA DVD

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• Industry initially did not educate and confronted
  opposition based on inaccurate assumptions that
  were made by the public
• Industry education also contained a press
  component
• Public education lead to greater acceptance.

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Lesson 2 Put burden on opponents to prove
digital billboards are not safe

• Opponents said digital billboards were not safe
  i.e., distracting to drivers

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• Industry supported safety position by presenting
• Michel Tantala expert
• FHWA Memorandum 9/25/07
• OAAA data showing other states and cities
  allowing digital billboards
• OAAA records showing safety studies conducted by
  state DOTs
• Virginia Tech Safety Study
• Policy makers made an informed decision that
  digital technology was not distracting

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Lesson 3 Be proactive when addressing the
brightness issue

• Opponents said digital billboards were
  excessively and dangerously bright
• Industry countered with facts
• Daktronics expert presented engineering
  information i.e., auto dim, effects of ambient
  light
• Video comparisons
• Arranged site visits to on-premise digital signs
  (and measured brightness levels of these signs)
• Arranged site visit to digital billboard sites in
  nearby market

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• Industry initially did not present pictures or
  views, which allowed the brightness, flashing
  issue to persist
• However, after many decision makers either saw a
  video comparison or an actual digital billboard,
  they were saying it was just as important that
  the signs not be too dim as too bright
• Issue was not whether digital billboards should
  be allowed but, how regulated.

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Lesson 4 Accentuate the positives of digital
billboards in a market

• Opponents said the risks outweighed benefits
• Industry countered by highlighting the
  safety/security uses
• AMBER alerts/emergency messages/crime
• Congressional letters of support
• Community leaders and safety officers (i.e.,
  sheriffs)

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• Economic and public opinion benefits
• Promotes economic growth
• Supports non-profits
• Arbitron study results 81 digital billboards
  are helpful beneficial
• The presentation of these benefits of having the
  technology in the market pushed the industry over
  the top in achieving a workable ordinance

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• City of Tulsa ordinance
• 8 second dwell time and transition time of no
  more than 1 second
• 500 6,500 NITS brightness range
• Automatic ambient light adjustment feature
  required
• No story book advertising allowed signs shall
  not display consecutive messages facing the same
  traveled way

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• 1,200 foot spacing on the same side of the
  roadway (same as traditional billboards) for
  initial period of 18 months then spacing
  increases to 1,200 foot spacing for digital signs
  facing the same traveled way (both sides of
  roadway)
• No mandatory public service provision
• The City of Tulsa ordinance represents a WIN-WIN
  for the outdoor industry and the citizens of the
  City of Tulsa