Vote For The Elgin Dash

[cortsdad2]

Just because we can measure an incoming data stream in binary language, doesn't mean we have to display it as a series of moving numbers. Digital instruments were "fashionable" back in the late '80's when everyone decided it was the "high-tech" look of the future, but I worked with the developers of an instrumentation system back then and we found it had a very serious problem - it doesn't relate well to human beings.

Imagine an instrument in front of you, say a tachometer that displays digits only. As the engine revs quickly, it takes you a moment to grasp what is going on under the hood. Your eyes catch the number "3", and a split-second later, the number "5". OK, fine - but your brain has to quickly interpret the fact that "5" is a larger number than "3", therefore the quantity being measured is rising. Then it has to decide whether that is good or bad. On the tach, is "5" safe? We have to think back to the owner's manual to decide whether "5" means something expensive is about to happen, and the relative time required to progress from "3" to "5" may mean disaster is already in the rear-view mirror . . . as in that cloud of oil smoke following you.

Water temperature is "240°" . . . again, good or bad? Is it increasing or decreasing? The same thing can happen with oil pressure - obviously "0" is not good, but where's the lower acceptable limit, and have you reached it yet? Remember, instruments can only tell you history - not always what's happening in the engine room at this very instant. Engineers try to damp out small excursions in the readings - you don't want to see your engine temperature rise and fall as the thermostat opens and closes - or read every slosh in your fuel tank - that would really be confusing.

The primary purpose of any kind of instrument display is communication - not necessarily with other binary devices, but with that grey lump of flesh between our ears. Our brains have to recognize and interpret inputs, and that takes a bit of effort. Scanning the instrument panel should be simple - communicating instant information. Most designers of instrumentation systems subscribe to the convention that all the needles pointing up means you are in good shape - with some allowance for a bit right or left of vertical saying all is well. A needle on the peg - either maxed or dead - is VERY bad news. We determine this by its relative position on the scale - we can go back and read off the numbers if we need to, but a quick scan of the information presented should instantly communicate what's happening out front, and which is important to us.

With just a glance, which means more to YOU:

or:

The oilfield instrumentation company I worked with had produced a terrific panel of extremely accurate LCD digits, but in an emergency, numbers speeding by on the screen were not helpful. They had to put a status bar alongside each digital display simply to inform the operator whether the numbers were increasing or decreasing because a spinning four-to eight digit display was meaningless. In a disaster scenario, it was a matter of life and death - not just whether you were going to void your warranty. They ended up with a panel that had at least two readouts for every function, one digital and one simulated analog, plus color-coding that would flash yellow or red to draw attention to the most critical changes taking place. All of this was to replace a simple set of needles and numbers. It just didn't work well with humans.

There is a good reason that wristwatches that once went to digital displays came back to three hands. Sure, if you were asked the time you could say "It's 11:45:42." with great authority - but you had to think about it for an instant to determine it was just under 15 minutes 'til lunch. That's the problem with digital readouts - humans are relational in their thinking - we need to see numbers in a context that is meaningful. If the temperature gauge is in the green, that's good. If it says "240°" we have to think about pressure and bring in a couple of Gas Law equations to understand something's about to let go. Sometimes an analog display is "close enough". It's how we interpret things quickly.

Digital displays don't even work for watches - even less well for mission-critical instruments.

Thank you for taking the time to explain all that... I knew there was a reason why I don't like the Elgin cluster (f**k)!

 

[WilliamH]

Give me a yaw indicator and a windsock for all I care. I'm going whatever speed the rest of the fools on the road are going during rush hour.

[Gawkers could present a problem when they first hit the road!]

Somehow I don't think Needle, Ball, and Air Speed will get it done.
And I sure don't want to try it under the hood.

 

[NSTG8R]

Somehow I don't think Needle, Ball, and Air Speed will get it done.
And I sure don't want to try it under the hood.

You've never driven I-270 at 5am [5:20, it's a parking lot]...the people in the slow lane are ticket worthy.
It's kind of like a Gnu migration....Get in the middle of the herd, and you just might not get caught by the Cop-o-dile...today.

 

['lio]

...

...

...There is a good reason that wristwatches that once went to digital displays came back to three hands. Sure, if you were asked the time you could say "It's 11:45:42." with great authority - but you had to think about it for an instant to determine it was just under 15 minutes 'til lunch. That's the problem with digital readouts - humans are relational in their thinking - we need to see numbers in a context that is meaningful. If the temperature gauge is in the green, that's good. If it says "240°" we have to think about pressure and bring in a couple of Gas Law equations to understand something's about to let go. Sometimes an analog display is "close enough". It's how we interpret things quickly.

Digital displays don't even work for watches - even less well for mission-critical instruments.

While many people might find a needle moving over numbers easier to read, most people I know choose digital clocks for their smart phones, (and computers or tablets) and don't seem to have any issues interpreting the read-out quickly. If I see 11:45 it does not take any longer to know that it is 15 minutes to 12, than seeing the two hands of a clock (btw, mine even displays military time). Digital read-outs are everywhere and people seem generally o.k. with it.

When driving a car, I don't need the instrument cluster to tell me if I am decelerating or accelerating, I know that from looking outside, the engine and general road noise and the position of the brake or gas pedal inputs. The reason why I am looking at the displays, is that I want to verify if I have reached certain rpm's or a specific speed. For that matter I don't care if I have a digital readout or what ever else in front of me.

Consider operating rooms: the last time I was in one, I did not see much analogue metering of anything and that seems one of the most critical places to interpret data. Doctors and nurses seem perfectly fine with digital displays. How about much of airplane cockpit displays? Is a digital compass harder to read than an analogue one? Not for me...

 

[JEBar]

the reality is, there is only one person's vote that counts on the Elgin .... personally, its the only ugly, rinky-dink feature on an innovative, stylish vehicle .... I think it will look even worse with the digital display of the Skyz system sitting right beside it .... I actually think that they know because it if it would enhance the impression of the vehicle, I think they would have already installed one in the P4

 

['lio]

True, some digital displays are atrocious, as this one from a Chevy Volt: http://www.autos.ca/galleries/2012/index.php?level=picture&id=5121

and some speedometers don't have any markers for 5, 15, 25, 35... such as the Elio prototype and this one from a Ford: http://www.autos.ca/galleries/2012/index.php?level=picture&id=5115 and some speedometers, have in-between markers only at lower speeds, as this example from a Volkswagen: http://www.autos.ca/galleries/2012/index.php?level=picture&id=5116

 

[Lil4X]

With the Skyzmatic system lashed to the radio slot, that display would appear to be beneath your right wrist just above your right kneecap. About the only WORSE placement for convenience and viewability would be in the back seat!

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Just because we can measure an incoming data stream in binary language, doesn't mean we have to display it as a series of moving numbers. Digital instruments were "fashionable" back in the late '80's when everyone decided it was the "high-tech" look of the future, but I worked with the developers of an instrumentation system back then and we found it had a very serious problem - it doesn't relate well to human beings.

Imagine an instrument in front of you, say a tachometer that displays digits only. As the engine revs quickly, it takes you a moment to grasp what is going on under the hood. Your eyes catch the number "3", and a split-second later, the number "5". OK, fine - but your brain has to quickly interpret the fact that "5" is a larger number than "3", therefore the quantity being measured is rising. Then it has to decide whether that is good or bad. On the tach, is "5" safe? We have to think back to the owner's manual to decide whether "5" means something expensive is about to happen, and the relative time required to progress from "3" to "5" may mean disaster is already in the rear-view mirror . . . as in that cloud of oil smoke following you.

Water temperature is "240°" . . . again, good or bad? Is it increasing or decreasing? The same thing can happen with oil pressure - obviously "0" is not good, but where's the lower acceptable limit, and have you reached it yet? Remember, instruments can only tell you history - not always what's happening in the engine room at this very instant. Engineers try to damp out small excursions in the readings - you don't want to see your engine temperature rise and fall as the thermostat opens and closes - or read every slosh in your fuel tank - that would really be confusing.

The primary purpose of any kind of instrument display is communication - not necessarily with other binary devices, but with that grey lump of flesh between our ears. Our brains have to recognize and interpret inputs, and that takes a bit of effort. Scanning the instrument panel should be simple - communicating instant information. Most designers of instrumentation systems subscribe to the convention that all the needles pointing up means you are in good shape - with some allowance for a bit right or left of vertical saying all is well. A needle on the peg - either maxed or dead - is VERY bad news. We determine this by its relative position on the scale - we can go back and read off the numbers if we need to, but a quick scan of the information presented should instantly communicate what's happening out front, and which is important to us.

With just a glance, which means more to YOU:

or:

The oilfield instrumentation company I worked with had produced a terrific panel of extremely accurate LCD digits, but in an emergency, numbers speeding by on the screen were not helpful. They had to put a status bar alongside each digital display simply to inform the operator whether the numbers were increasing or decreasing because a spinning four-to eight digit display was meaningless. In a disaster scenario, it was a matter of life and death - not just whether you were going to void your warranty. They ended up with a panel that had at least two readouts for every function, one digital and one simulated analog, plus color-coding that would flash yellow or red to draw attention to the most critical changes taking place. All of this was to replace a simple set of needles and numbers. It just didn't work well with humans.

There is a good reason that wristwatches that once went to digital displays came back to three hands. Sure, if you were asked the time you could say "It's 11:45:42." with great authority - but you had to think about it for an instant to determine it was just under 15 minutes 'til lunch. That's the problem with digital readouts - humans are relational in their thinking - we need to see numbers in a context that is meaningful. If the temperature gauge is in the green, that's good. If it says "240°" we have to think about pressure and bring in a couple of Gas Law equations to understand something's about to let go. Sometimes an analog display is "close enough". It's how we interpret things quickly.

Digital displays don't even work for watches - even less well for mission-critical instruments.

I could Google for hours and not come to find your post. Thanks .

Just another comment, you know when we pull up alongside another car and want to communicate with them, we toot the horn, and then make a circular motion indicating you'd like them to roll down their window, in the very near future, folks will have no idea what you want, as they were "raised" with a switch to raise/lower the window.
Add kids are no longer taught to actually "write" (penmanship)
My point being, kids have been raised with digital clocks, and probably process them faster then "us",
Try this, ask a kid what time is it when the little hand us on the 1, and the big hand is on the 9!!

 

[RUCRAYZE]

the reality is, there is only one person's vote that counts on the Elgin .... personally, its the only ugly, rinky-dink feature on an innovative, stylish vehicle .... I think it will look even worse with the digital display of the Skyz system sitting right beside it .... I actually think that they know because it if it would enhance the impression of the vehicle, I think they would have already installed one in the P4

And I think Paul 's "feeling" about the dasj is dedicated to his Pop, back in the day when you had to wind 'em up, Elgin was a classy watch.
Aside, maybe it's just me, the tach is easier to see, as the speedo is blocked by the steering wheel. I've taken to putting a dot of nail polish on the location, where, in top gear, I'm going 45mph (aside from the interstates,most road limits are 45mph here)

 

[Ekh]

Hated it at first, hate it now, and think it is fundamentally less safe and less attractive than the plain vanilla panel in P4. Elio needs pressure from POTENTIAL INVESTORS to lose this turkey. EM knows how we feel about this dash, but haven't yet backed off it. How about offering the Elgin Dash as an extra-cost option? The'd sell perhaps a dozen of 'em.

Grrrr. Paul should be listening on this issue.