The present disclosure includes in one instance an optical article comprising a data rich plurality of retroreflective meats that are configured in a spatially defined arrangement, where the plurality of retroreflective elements comprise retroreflective elements having at least two different retroreflective properties, and where data rich means information that is readily machine interpretable. The present disclosure also includes a system comprising the previously mentioned optical article, an optical system, and an inference engine for interpreting and classifying the plurality of retroreflective elements wherein the optical system feeds data to the inference engine.