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Video

Digital Signage and Mobile Wayfinding — 4 Solutions for Higher Ed Campuses

Digital signage wayfinding with mobile integration redefines turn by turn directions. Check out the video of how these work.

March 20, 2014 TD Staff Leave a Comment

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Here2There Software, developers of Digital Wayfinding software, stress the importance of mobile wayfinding—especially in the context of larger campuses. Their software allows administrators to make updates and set directions to any location on the campus.

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With complete control over endpoints, Here2There software can be updated per event, for example detours, special event parking or any other unique event or standard direction that the campus needs to make available to its visitors. With the option to sync these updates and settings to the web, Here2There software can expand the effectiveness of the wayfinding information found on the physical displays.

Turning a mobile device into a personal wayfinder keeps visitors in touch with the campus they are navigating. Plus, with instant access to the content from the wayfinding software, visitors have access to all of the latest updates being made to the campus maps.

Software developers and interactive signage innovators Four Winds Interactive, have a newly featured HTML Player that can be offered along with their signage software. With the HTML Player, signage content can be hosted on the Internet for access with an Internet enabled device. In some applications, a QR code is used to select the application that the visitor would like to access on the smart device. This code can reference anything in the signage application and is useful for turning a mobile device into a wayfinder.

22MILES, innovators of mobile and touch screen technologies, offer an open source mobile wayfinding solution to grant mobile access to content using their software.

The idea behind open source wayfinding is a cross-platform mobile wayfinding site which hosts the wayfinding application specific to each signage device. visitors can download the application via this website (in the future QR code, this integration is still patent pending for 22MILES), and enjoy turn by turn directions as with Google maps. The website embedded application also offers multiple destinations, which helps visitors take advantage of the “plan your visit” option that can allow for multiple destinations over an extended stay.

Digital signage innovators are constantly trying to re-vamp how companies can present media rich content that is both informative and acutely controllable — bridging the gap between the visitor or customer and the location or brand. Location-based content is valuable for communicating events, alerts, directions and even branding, and is quickly setting the pace for well-informed customer service.

As digital signage pioneers work towards adding more control over content and creating more streamlined, chic display technologies, the range of possibility for visitor or customer interaction is only getting larger. Better technology means more options for exactly what digital signage can accomplish and this means more possibilities for efficient service. One service that continues to be developed as technology matures is wayfinding.

Wayfinding can serve a variety of purposes. From simple turn-by-turn directions to event triggered media distribution, wayfinding makes navigating environments not only easier, but engaging. How users are consuming wayfinding is expanding right alongside of the content.

A wayfinding technology that is on the forefront of this digital signage odyssey is mobile integration.

As mobile technology continues to become an integral part of our society, both socially and commercially, the ability to navigate specific locations via a smart device in accordance with digital signage content management systems is an erasure of yet another barrier between the visitor and the establishment. However, just exactly how information is communicated from the content management system to the personal device varies with each type of digital signage software.

Four Winds Interactive, a developer of digital signage solutions, offers an HTML player that allows interactive directories and wayfinding applications to be hosted on the Web. With this specific digital signage software, any device with Internet access can view whatever content is being shared by the HTML player. In regards to wayfinding, a guest can now access a detailed map of their environment via their smart device, allowing the interactive application to service the guest no matter where they are.

Other companies, such as Jibestream Interactive Media, offer platform-specific wayfinding apps. Jibestream’s NovoMap features a variety of content for its guests, one of these features being wayfinding, which are accessible on a personal smart device thanks to the company’s focus on mobile integration and the creation of a mobile app for their NovoMap platform.

The number of ways that software developers can translate digital signage content for a smart device is growing, and these two examples are only two instances of how software-specific mobile integration is possible. From QR codes to open source Web code, developers are looking for ways to create unique mobile answers for the already effective practice of digital signage — more specifically wayfinding.

Integrating mobile technology into a wayfinding system can mean the difference between a handful of kiosks or digital signage displays over a single or multi-site campus, to only a few purposefully placed displays and increased efficiency with the help of a smart device.

Deciding which route for mobile integration best fits a location, however, is completely dependent on the application and the range of specificity needed. Thankfully, if there already is not one, someone can make an app for that, which will be as unique as the content being displayed.

Tagged With: Apps, Digital Signage, Higher Ed

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