Stone markers

jrar

OK, might not be the optimal place to post this but I'm hoping someone can shed some light on the issue
I'm in Majorca and on my daily cycles (and drives), I notice (especially on hilly roads) stone markers by the side of the road with a single numeric value - they're official looking in that they stone is usually cut (a lot of them look like small granite headstones !) but there is neither rhyme nor reason to the values displayed nor the location of the stone i.e. I could see one with a "9" on it, and then 10 metres later, another could read "5" and then I mightn't see one for another kilometre and it could read "2", so very haphazard and no way of discerning any pattern that might explain their primary purpose

......and before anyone says KM markers, no, these are totally separate and I've see them all over

Anyone got any ideas ?   I can post some photos if that will help

L1011

Bus stops?

jrar

No, they're only about 30 cms tall, they're usually planted in the roadside verge (though always visible) and they're more numerous in remote and/or mountainous areas than in urban spaces

G_R

Markers to let emergency services know your location should you need to?

ricimaki

It's probably a marker for access to some utilities like water, gas, broadband etc.

jrar

G_R wrote: »

Markers to let emergency services know your location should you need to?

No, these are in addition to the normal road number/kilometre markers on all roads here - the stone markers are always single digit, and are not equally spaced at all.  I think I need to post a photo of one to give a better idea of what they are like

Carawaystick

jrar wrote: »

No, these are in addition to the normal road number/kilometre markers on all roads here - the stone markers are always single digit, and are not equally spaced at all.  I think I need to post a photo of one to give a better idea of what they are like

Is there a streetview link you can post?

Alun

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is there a streetview link you can post?

That would help, certainly. Out of curiosity I've done a quick scan of a few rural roads there but haven't seen anything that looks like what the OP describes.

RobertFoster

Here's one: https://goo.gl/maps/B1jsprf6YyE2

If they're on hilly roads then maybe they're gradient markers.

Alun

RobertFoster wrote: »

Here's one: https://goo.gl/maps/B1jsprf6YyE2

If they're on hilly roads then maybe they're gradient markers.

I had another look and found a few of those too on a different road, but when I looked closer I noticed that as you travelled along the road, there were more, with the number reducing (or increasing depending on what direction you were going!) from 9, to 8,7,6,5 ... etc. until you got to the next kilometre post, and then the next one started again at 9, so I'm assuming these are 100m markers. Sometimes I missed one or two, but I'm not sure if that's just down to Google's photography, my eyesight, or maybe they just miss one or two out now and then for some reason or another.

Alun

See here ...

post 5 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7338302,2.611589,3a,75y,260.63h,72.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7EZAmiUjg-yaM67QCwEFvw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

post 6 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7333138,2.6104475,3a,75y,337.21h,63.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCpwDRzPXk45YNmCMBTjJpw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

post 7 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7327374,2.6095161,3a,75y,305.03h,75.58t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slgfmhVkLKEhZnc13k7VpWQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

post 8 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7318149,2.6093469,3a,75y,292.63h,63.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swWK7QSH6-ZR58roHqRh0eQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

post 9 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7310144,2.6087937,3a,75y,302.21h,56.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYFGrD8jmD6rRFexY5D9KpQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

km 69
https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7305401,2.6082857,3a,75y,255.11h,69.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBrQQt5PTjqfKPertEaIUtQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

post 1 https://www.google.ie/maps/@39.7298058,2.6075895,3a,75y,265.25h,72.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJdcJRK1pGvT7Dx1FfpqYXA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Carawaystick

Good spotting, Alun.

A lot of motorway junctions are numbered by the mileage in Spain, and I rememeber hearing addressing was done similarily, for rural houses, the distance along a road number was used, so marking the distance seems an aid to this.