A new generation of smart interactive kiosks and digital signage is bringing smart city technology to the people.

Smarter technologies are changing the way people experience places. Customers have greater demands on their time and are more reluctant than ever to leave the safety and ease of their digital home entertainment systems. In response, destinations of all kinds – campuses, venues, transport hubs, hotels and more – are creating immersive, customer-centric environments that provide greater value, ease and safety. The portal to these experiences is a new generation of smart interactive kiosks and digital signs. This technology creates a better interface between the city district and residents or visitors, which helps to drive city engagement and increase local business revenues.

Digital Twins, Virtual Twins and the Metaverse

Digital twins are essential to smart-city technologies. Gathering and collating data from IoT into one centralized platform allows city managers to optimize the performance of everything from emissions to crowd flows.

Virtual twins are a visual representation of smart city data into a user-friendly 3D mapping platform, and  build upon the digital twin foundation. A virtual twin allows data to be visualized and given back to visitors in a form that makes for better, safer experiences. It is these virtual twin maps that form the first line of visitor experience in the smart city. Interactive kiosks provide the first access point for visitors to start interacting with the smart city and provide a gateway to mobile-devices.

Some of the information Interactive kiosks can surface through in real-time:

• The location of events and experiences
• Store locations – including current promotions
• Temporary changes to traffic access
• Pedestrian walkway access and entry points
• Mobile vendor (food trucks, pop-up stores) locations and open times
• Brand activations
• New businesses in the area
• Transport options
• Rideshare zones

Smart city interactive kiosks and digital signage programs

PAM is a digital navigation and experience platform that enables smart interactive kiosks. PAM provides a software content management system that drives interactive kiosks, digital signage and mobile devices through a web browser.

• Digital signage helps visitors immediate understand basic directions, as well as the experiences they can have that are taking place right now or in the immediate future
• Interactive kiosks allow customers to go one step further and find out more about events, sponsors, amenities and retail destinations
• Using QR codes, visitors can transfer this information access to mobile
• Mobile navigation provides an in-depth view of the district, including the best routes to take on any given day or at any given time – plus all the event, store and promotional information available on the interactive kiosk.

PAM allows a range of City Management teams to take advantage of the benefits of the platform:

• Facilities Managers can make sure incoming crowds know the best routes to parking and entries. They can tailor navigation information to suit the needs of the day, and reduce congestion and risk around any temporary works taking place on site.
• Marketing can highlight sponsors, advertisers and offers for each day. For events marketers, they’re able to maximize reach and sell more tickets to future events.
• Security can ensure crowds are safe and provided with information immediately in case of emergency.
• Programming can highlight future events taking place across the city or enable promoters to maximize revenues for their events.

PAM provides a flexible solution that balances the business needs of The City with the level of engagement and experience that residents and visitors now demand, while also meeting The City’s accessibility and safety obligations better than ever before.

A flexible, connected smart city

The creation of a smart city isn’t about technologies, it’s about benefits.

• A smart navigation and engagement platform is a smart city technology that drives both short term ROI and longer term strategic goals.
• Having an agile method of adapting the branding, traffic flow and marketing messaging of the city and its constituents ensures maximum visitor satisfaction and engagement.
• Connecting a visitor’s journey from home to the property, then on through each experience while they’re enjoying the district means they get maximum value with minimal stress and wasted time.
• For operations and facilities teams, they’re able to also ensure a safe journey that serves every visitor, no matter their needs and challenges.

A platform for the future

Ultimately, smart district technologies are about creating places of the future. The digitization of every business has been underway for decades, but we’re only now seeing smart technologies being applied to guide future decision making. Platforms that underpin the city experience with the same efficiency that a BIM platform supports building management is transforming strategic planning of our smart cities.

 Technology can actually be a solution to enhancing community engagement and making it more agile and inclusive

Harvard Data-Smart

We’re now able to reliably implement a new generation of visitor experience touchpoints, like smart interactive kiosks, that allow for digital transformation both now but also decades in the future. Such a strategic approach means we realize more engaging, equitable and accessible visitor experiences that match our goals for The City- planned, predictable and data-driven growth for decades to come.