Gone are the days of paper signs and delays in getting updated information out to travellers. We live in a real-time world and travellers expect real-time, relevant information at their fingertips. Visual communications, using devices like digital signs and interactive kiosks, can enhance the travel experience by helping people get to where they need to go safely, efficiently and effectively. Equipping passengers with the right information--at the right time--can ensure a positive experience in an environment that demands real-time sensitive information.
Visual communications in transportation can:
- Alleviate perceived wait times;
- Enhance travel experiences;
- Engage passengers with news, weather, emergency broadcasts;
- Deliver real-time location-based information, such as arrival/departure times, cancellations and delays, or service stoppage;
- Improve operations by reducing the workload of employees;
- Keep passengers safe; emergency notifications can interrupt regularly scheduled content; and
- Be a “travel guide” through interactive wayfinding kiosks
Wayfinding has evolved from static paper signage to electronic wayfinding to interactive wayfinding. This transition in part has been the result of the availability of new technologies for airports, stations and terminals to leverage.
One technology that had a significant impact was digital signage. Digital signs enabled transportation organizations to quickly and easily update signage and provide travellers with more accurate and timely access to arrival/departure times, cancellations and delays. The advent of digital signage has also led to significant improvements in wayfinding in facilities, such as airports, where there are often multiple terminals and large volumes of people who need to move through the space quickly.
In airports wayfinding encompasses a number of areas including directing travellers across terminals, to and from gates, through security, and to popular destinations within the airport such as restaurants and shops. These same screens also display advertising and news and weather updates.
Interactive wayfinding takes traditional wayfinding to an entirely new level by integrating technologies like touchscreens, RFID and barcode scanners. Touchscreens have enabled a new level of self-service. They allow travellers to independently select a destination from a map or list, which triggers the system to create a map displaying the end point and including things enroute, such as multiple floors, multiple regions and multiple buildings. Additionally, some software solutions that power interactive wayfinding kiosks use conditional formatting and are able to react to things such as elevator operation times, which prompts the system to choose an appropriate route based on current conditions.
Interactivity At SFO
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is an excellent example of interactive wayfinding in an airport environment. This world-class airport services more than 45 million domestic and international passengers annually and is one of the largest in the United States. Its four terminals with seven boarding areas offer non-stop flights to more than 34 international cities on 29 international carriers. It is the Bay Area's largest airport and connects non-stop with 78 cities in the United States on 15 domestic airlines.
Its sheer size and many pathways can make a traveler feel as if they are trapped in a maze of never-ending walkways as they move from terminal to terminal. Historically the airport has used more than 270 paper maps airport wide to help travellers get to where they need to go. These paper maps--while effective--have not been ideal. The paper maps can't be immediately updated when there is a change, and the cost of reprinting them and the staff time involved is high.
In 2012, the airport launched a project to renovate Boarding Area E. An interactive wayfinding system was planned for this newly renovated area to eliminate the need for paper maps, assist in navigating from terminal to terminal, and provide travellers with the optimum route.
Boarding Area E opened in January 2014 with two interactive wayfinding screens powered by Omnivex’s Moxie software in the remodelled boarding area. The screens enable travellers to easily find where they need to go anywhere in the airport and the best route to get there, whether by walking or by taking the airport's automated AirTrain. They also allow passengers to explore their options for dining, shopping and things to do, giving them a more rewarding airport experience. The touchscreens are location-smart and thereby predetermine appropriate destinations based on the passenger’s pre- or post-security location.
This solution enables the airport to tie data in from various source systems (e.g. maintenance, elevators, emergency alarms) and devices (e.g. RFID, barcode scanners), to the interactive maps, which generate floor plans that reflect the current environment in the facility and take into consideration things such as construction closures or other obstacles that might impact a particular route.
Through the use of conditional formatting, the system considers information like elevator operation times and route lighting, when calculating the best route for getting from point A to B at a particular time of day. By interfacing with a variety of source systems it can also handle multi-floor and multi-region wayfinding, providing users with maps covering multiple areas, such as buildings or terminals, and multiple transfer points such as stairs, elevators, tunnels or bridges. The connections into real-time data and devices also ensure that the system is kept current and there is no need for reprinting maps or replacing signs every time something changes.
With the deployment of the interactive wayfinding screens in the newly renovated Boarding Area E, SFO has been able to enhance the experience of the travellers passing through the airport each day. This digital approach to providing directions and maps will also help reduce costs in printing and manhours.
BIO: Craig Marshall is Omnivex’s solution sales professional for digital signage for the transportation industry. He has been employed with Omnivex since 1999, starting with the company at the very beginnings of digital signage technology. He is a professional engineer and has previously worked in a variety of fields including engineering, transportation, manufacturing and sales.
Author Craig Marshall, will be presenting a Roundtable Discussion entitled, "Smart Transportation: Advancing Transportation with Interactive Wayfinding,” at Digital Signage Expo 2015 on Thursday, March 12 from 12:30-1:30pm at the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information about DSE or to register for this or any other educational seminar or workshop and learn about digital signage go to www.dse2015.com
