Why would white lines be painted on the streets at manholes, and why would it be done in November?

real-life/painted.lines New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

Why would white lines be painted on the streets at manholes, and why
would it be done in November?

[ Editor: problem statement reconstructed from the postings; the
original question, posted under the title "The Mysterious Manhole
Markings", is not in the collected postings. ]

Show solution

In article <4bhv1t$gpo@uucp.intac.com>, tjr@intac.com (Tom Rushworth) wrote:
> In November the leaves have fallen from the trees and the snow is not
> yet on the ground.

Correct!

This was indeed an aerial mapping project. The white lines on the
photographs are input to a mapping program that creates a city-wide map
of the underground utilities.

There is a pretty small window of time in which there are no leaves on
the trees and there is a high likelihood of no snow on the ground.

Incidentally, they claimed they were using special paint that would fade
quickly. A few years later, the lines are still around ...

-- Peter Suzman <suzman@netcom.com>