Interactive Wayfinding is beneficial in many settings. In my previous articles, I frequently reference wayfinding as a solution in Hospitals and on College Campuses. In this post, I would like to high light the uses of Wayfinding as applied to a city.
When wayfinding is implemented into any location where navigating is an issue, the foremost impressive feature is the indoor routing. Using an app like Google maps can provide out door directions much like interactive wayfinding through companies like Here2There Software and Wayfinding Pro. But where this ends, is at the address of the destination. Interactive Wayfinding picks up at this end and provides step by step directions to departments, rooms, offices, bathrooms and any other point of interest desired. This is especially beneficial when provided at a hospital or university campus where there are multiple buildings of the same organization.
Measuring wayfinding in these terms can lead one to assume that for a setting such as a City, where a good portion of the wayfinding is outdoors, free services like Google Maps or Map Quest may be sufficient. While these tools can be helpful when selecting one set of directions from your home to city hall, the features available, and flexibility of these programs for wayfinding is very sparse. And, they are not always correct or updated, as these programs are general and do not focus on any one single area.
Implementing a dedicated interactive wayfinding app to your City would provide benefits such as:
– Directory of frequently visited locations (Post office, Tourist Center, Museum, etc)
– Tour Themes: By providing this, a visitor could select a tour theme labeled “Sight Seeing” and be given access to a listing of local sights, state parks, monuments, homes and buildings on the national historical register, and so on.
– Directions to and from each building within the city as well as indoor directions within the museums, schools, stadiums, theaters, etc.
– A directory of officials and persons of interest in combination with city services can be made available.
After reviewing only a few options as listed above, it is easy to see that the potential of interactive wayfinding and the features made available is really endless.
Implementation and Installation is marginally simpler than it may seem. Offering interactive wayfinding on mobile devices is efficient and effective. To market the available service, billboards and signs can be posted throughout the city directing visitors to the site. Development of this option is also less complex than many may assume as it would be built for the web (mobile web). Placing outdoor kiosks at city corners is also an option to consider. This can be coupled with the mobile solution, or offered as standalone.
For cities with a team of designers / developers, interactive wayfinding can be built within their own organizations as companies such as Wayfinding Pro offer software development kits that enable subscribers to build their own projects (www.wayfindingpro.com). Full service projects, completely designed and developed to meet the specs of the client, are available through companies like Here2There Software (www.here2theresoftware.com).
In the last few years wayfinding has rapidly gained recognition as a must have application. Volumes of Hospitals, Universities and Corporate Campuses are setting aside budgets for wayfinding as a necessity and not just an interesting option.
For further info on this topic, feel free to reach out to either of the companies mentioned in this article. Return to my site for upcoming posts!
Interactive Wayfinding 