What is Digital Wayfinding? | Visuals over Text

Navigating a large and unfamiliar retail, commercial or healthcare space can be very intimidating and frustrating to first-time visitors. That’s where wayfinding comes in. Wayfinding is a visual aid meant to help visitors easily find out how to get where they need to go.

Traditionally, this was accomplished using printed signage. The problem with this approach is that printed signs don’t really stand out, they’re static, they’re expensive and time-consuming to maintain and they can’t be used for anything else. firmCHANNEL’s Digital Wayfinding enhances traditional wayfinding by letting visitors interact with a touch-enabled display to get clear, visual directions to where they need to go.

firmCHANNEL’s Digital Wayfinding offers two ways for visitors to find a location. The first is an interactive map, allowing visitors to visually find a location and then get direction by tapping on it. An ordered list of locations allows visitors to find a location by name and then tap on it to get directions. A path from the visitor’s current location to the selected location will be drawn on the map and will even account for changes in levels or floors.

firmCHANNEL works with customers to create the perfect digital wayfinding experience that meets branding guidelines. Unlike other wayfinding solutions, we can incorporate areas to display managed content which can include news, weather, partner ads, announcements or whatever content is required.

A typical Digital Wayfinding installation includes a touch-enabled screen enclosed in an attractive and secure kiosk. To get the most out of this investment it should be able to do something useful when wayfinding is not being used. firmCHANNEL’s digital wayfinding kiosk solution will automatically switch over to play digital signage content when not engaged. This opens up many possibilities including displaying income generating ads which can help offset the cost of the system. And because kiosks are placed in high traffic areas, they are perfect for displaying important announcements and information, current news and weather, promoting local businesses and services and much more.