For the purpose of this manual:

Advance sign means a sign indicating the direction or distance to a facility, locality, activity, service or enterprise.

Advertisement means any visible representation of a word, name, letter, figure, object, mark or symbol or of an abbreviation of a word or name, or of any combination of such elements with the object of transferring information.

Advertising means the act or process of notifying, warning, informing, making known or any other act of transferring information in a visible manner.

Advertising device means any physical device which is used to display an advertisement or which is in itself an advertisement.

Advertising structure means any physical structure built to display an advertisement.

Aerial sign means any sign which is affixed to or produced by any form of aircraft and which is displayed in the air.

Animation means a process whereby an advertisement's visibility or message is enhanced by means of moving units, flashing lights or similar devices.

Area of control refers to the degree of advertising control to be applied in a specific area, i.e. maximum, partial or minimum control, in accordance with the visual sensitivity of the area and traffic safety conditions. Area of control is also used to express the degree of landscape sensitivity of specific areas.

Arterial road means a road which, in the opinion of the roads authority, functions as a main carrier of traffic within an urban area.

Backlight units (backlit) means advertising structures or devices which house illumination in a box to throw light through translucent advertising printed on plastic or heavy duty paper for higher visibility and extended night viewing.

Balcony means a platform projecting from a wall, enclosed by a railing, balustrade or similar structure, supported by columns or cantilevered out and accessible from an upper-floor door or window.

Basic landscape sensitivity indicates the visual or aesthetic sensitivity of the landscape with regard to outdoor advertisements and signs in terms of three basic landscape types which are, in order of sensitivity, natural, rural and urban landscapes.

Billboard means any screen or board larger than 4,5m², supported by a free-standing structure, which is to be used or intended to be used for the purpose of posting, displaying or exhibiting an advertisement and which is also commonly known as an advertising hoarding. The main function of a billboard is to advertise non-locality bound products, activities or services.

Bit of information refers to the basic unit for measuring the length of advertising messages and may consist of letters, digits, symbols, logos or abbreviations.

Blind means a vertical screen attached to shopwindows or verandas in order to keep sun and rain from shopfronts and sidewalks, and which may be rolled up when not in use.

Building means any structure whatsoever with or without walls, with a roof or canopy and a means of ingress and egress underneath such roof or canopy.

Canopy means a structure in the nature of a roof projecting from the facade of a building and cantilevered from that building or anchored otherwise than by columns or posts.

Centre of economic activity refers to an enterprise or a group of enterprises outside urban areas and which may include farm stalls, roadside service areas, accommodation facilities, food services, industries and cottage industries, as well as shops and other commercial facilities.

Clear height means the vertical distance between the lowest edge of a sign and the level of the ground, footway or roadway immediately below such sign.

Combination sign means a single free-standing advertising structure for displaying information on various enterprises and services at locations such as roadside service areas, urban shopping centres and other urban complexes.

Controlling authority means any governmental institution at any level of government, which is en- titled to exercise control over oudoor advertising.

Copy means the complete advertising message to be displayed on the advertising structure.

Cut-outs mean letters, packages, figures or mechanical devices attached to the face of an outdoor sign, which might extend beyond the rectangular area for greater attention value, can provide a three-dimensional effect and are also commonly known as add-ons or embellishments.

Deemed consent (permitted with) means a sign which is deemed approved without the controlling authority having to provide specific consent.

Degree of landscape sensitivity means a refinement of basic landscape sensitivity which may include, apart from a refined visual sensitivity, traffic safety conditions as a criterion for sensitivity rating. Degree of landscape sensitivity is expressed in terms of area of control, i.e. areas of minimum partial and maximum control which are superimposed onto the three basic landscape types, i.e. natural, rural and urban landscapes.

Density of residential area refers to both population density (number of people per hectare) and intensity of land use or visual density (number of units per hectare and the nature of the units, e.g. high rise, low rise or detached, as well as to the presence of non-residential functions).

Direction sign means a type of guidance sign provided under the South African Road Traffic Sign System and used to indicate to the road user the direction to be taken in order that they may reach their intended destination.

Display of a sign includes the erection of any structure if such structure is intended solely or primarily for the support of such sign.

Display period means the exposure time during which the individual advertising message is on display.

Facade means the principal front or fronts of a building.

Flashing sign means a sign in which the visibility of the contents is enhanced by their intermittently appearing and disappearing or being illuminated with varying intensity or colours.

Flat sign means any sign which is affixed to any external wall of a building used for commercial, office, industrial or entertainment purposes, but excluding a parapet wall, balustrade or railing of a veranda or balcony of any such building, which at no point projects more than 300mm from the surface of such a wall and which may consist of a panel or sheet or of individual numbers, letters or symbols.

Free-standing sign means any immobile sign which is not attached to a building or to any structure or object not intended to be used for the primary purpose of advertising.

Freeway means a road designated as a freeway by means of a road traffic sign.

Gateway means a prominent entrance to or exit from an urban area or a specific part of an urban area, consisting of man-made or natural features and creating a strong sense of arrival or departure.

Height of a sign means the vertical distance between the uppermost and lowest edges of the sign.

Human living environment refers to all human settlements such as villages, towns or cities, which may consist of various components such as residential, employment and recreation areas and which require environmental management to provide services such as water, public spaces and waste removal and to protect the quality of the environment.

Illuminated means an advertising structure which has been installed with electrical or other power for the purpose of illumination of the message of such sign.

Illuminated sign means a sign the continuous or intermittent functioning of which depends upon it being illuminated.

Landscape sensitivity refers to the visual or aesthetic sensitivity of the landscape with regard to outdoor advertisements and signs, is expressed in terms of basic landscape sensitivity and degree of landscape sensitivity and may also take traffic safety conditions into account.

Limited use area means an area of 50m outside the road reserve boundary of a freeway to which the same restrictions apply as the actual freeway reserve but where consent is given under certain circum- stances for the display of specific sign types in order to indicate enterprises situated in such a limited use area.

Locality-bound sign means a sign displayed on a specific site, premises or building and which refers to an activity, product, service or attraction located, rendered or provided on that premises or site or inside that building.

Location sign means a type of guidance sign provided under the South African Road Traffic Sign System and used to identify places or locations which either provide reassurance during a journey or identify destinations such as towns, suburbs or streets near the end of a journey.

Main roof of a building means any roof of a building other than the roof of a veranda or balcony.

Main wall of a building means any external wall of a building, but does not include a parapet wall, balustrade or railing of a veranda or a balcony.

Mobile or transit sign means an advertisement attached to or displayed on a vehicle, vessel or craft on land, on water or in the air.

Natural landscape means relatively unspoilt areas outside urban areas such as natural parks, game reserves, nature reserves, marine reserves, wilderness areas and extensive agriculture and scenic corridors.

Outdoor advertising means the act or process of notifying, warning, informing, making known or any other act of transferring information in a visible manner and which takes place out of doors.

Poster means any placard announcing or attracting public attention to any meeting, event, function, activity or undertaking or to the candidature of any person nominated for election to parliament, local government or any similar body or to a referendum, or any placard advertising any product or service or announcing the sale of any goods, livestock or property.

Projected sign means any sign projected by a cinematograph or other apparatus, but does not include a sign projected onto the audience's side of a drive-in cinema screen during a performance.

Projecting sign means any sign which is affixed to a main wall of a building which is used for commercial, office, industrial or entertainment purposes and which projects more than 300mm from the surface of the main wall and is affixed at a right angle to the street line.

Road traffic sign means any road traffic sign as defined in the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989), the detailed dimensions and applications of which are controlled by the regulations to this Act and the South African Road Traffic Signs Manual (Note: Act 29 will be replaced by The National Road Traffic Act, Act 93 of 1996 in the near future).

Roof sign means a sign on the main roof of a building lower than fifteen floors and which building is used or partly used for commercial, office, industrial or entertainment purposes.

Rotating sign means a sign which rotates on any axis.

Running light sign means a sign or portion of a sign in the form of an illuminated strip the illumination of which varies periodically in such a way as to convey the impression of a pattern of lights moving steadily along such strip.

Rural landscape refers to areas of transition between developed urban areas and relatively unspoiled natural areas. Typical rural land use forms include intensive agriculture, subsistence agriculture and peri-urban smallholdings of a rural nature with a relatively low population density.

Sign is a more comprehensive term than advertisement and refers to any advertisement or object, structure or device which is in itself an advertisement or which is used to display an advertisement.

Sky sign means a very large sign between 75m² to 300m² on top of a skyscraper in a metropolitan area and which may form an important landmark.

Specific consent (permitted with) means the written approval of the controlling authority after review of the guidelines in this manual.

Spectacular means a custom-made billboard which incorporates special effects such as internal illumination, cut-outs and three-dimensional representations.

Sustainable development means development that delivers basic environmental, economic and social services to all without threatening the viability of natural, built and social systems upon which such services depend.

Temporary sign means a sign not permanently fixed and not intended to remain fixed in one position.

Tri-vision means a display embellishment which, through the use of a triangular louver construction, permits the display of three different copy messages in a pre-determined sequence.

Urban area means a human settlement with a population of more than 2 500 people.

Urban landscape means an urban area or any part of an urban area.

Vehicular advertising means advertising on self-driven vehicles which are normally driven on land or water and which are normally moving.

Veranda means a structure in the nature of a roof attached to or projecting from the facade of a building and supported along its free edge by columns or posts.

Visual zone refers to a zone considered to be an area of maximum control, visible from an urban freeway, extending a distance of 250 metres in any direction from the freeway reserve boundary, but which excludes all visually isolated space which cannot be seen from such a freeway.

Window signs means signs which are permanently painted on or attached to the window-glass of a building.