Digital Signage Universe

New York City's Official Information Center Uses Interactive Maps and Digital Signage Video Wall

SEEN & NOTED: NEW YORK, NY — On a recent visit to New York's Official Information Center at 810 Seventh Avenue (53rd Street), the storefront location features three large interactive multi-touch tables that enable visitors to explore New York on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis to learn about local attractions and print a personalized itinerary. The interactive tables provide maps and site specific information on the city's top tourist attractions, restaurants, shops, and museums in 10 languages. In addition, a large digital signage video wall displays photos and offers advice from local experts and celebrities.

The interactive tables were built by GestureTek, a Toronto-based developer of interactive camera-enabled gesture-recognition technology. The tables incorporate both touch and object recognition, that unlike a typical touch screen, use a specially designed discs each containing a unique barcode. When a visitor arrives at the center they can pick up a disc to use on an available table. When a visitor moves the disc across a table's surface, the maps come alive enabling a visitors to use interactive navigation to explore the city's 5 boroughs using touchscreen input. Additional information on specific locations can be accessed by simply touching flagged items on the screen. Speakers located over each table provide audio feedback to visitors while they navigate the system. After selecting their destinations, visitors can then place the disc on a receiver to automatically print out a customized itinerary, or send the itinerary to their cell phone or an email address. When the disc is placed on the receiver, a Google Earth fly-through video shows the visitors their selected destinations on the center's large screen video wall. The Information Center also provides NYC visitor guides, brochures, maps, discount coupons and a MetroCard vending machine is conveniently located in the Center to encourage visitors to use mass transit.

New York's Official Information Center was originally opened in 2009 and was designed by WXY Architecture & Urban Design with audio-visual integration by VideoSonic Systems Inc., a New York-based systems integration company that has provided audio-visual technology for museums, universities, corporations and retail stores that include Sony Wonder, Swatch, Prada, and HBO.

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Gas Station TV To Expand Digital Out-of-Home Network Reaching 70 Million Monthly Consumers

SEEN & NOTED:  DETROIT, MI  – Gas Station TV (GSTV) has announced an agreement with Wayne, a developer of fuel dispensers technologies, to roll out inOvationTV at gas stations throughout the United States. The inOvationTV digital out-of-home network is being co-developed by GSTV and Wayne with a projected reach of more than 70 million on-the-go monthly consumers.

Fuel retailers outfitted with inOvationTV will be able to inform and entertain their customers at the pump with Gas Station TV's exclusive content, that includes sports from ESPN, business and personal finance news from Bloomberg TV, local weather from AccuWeather, and GSTV’s “Your Neighborhood.” an original social media television show. In addition, fuel retailers will receive a number of additional benefits through the inOvationTV network that include an upgraded payment processing and retail-driven promotional announcements produced by GSTV. The inOvationTV advertising platform will be available free-of-charge to qualified gas stations and is installed either as a retrofit to existing stations already installed with Wayne’s Ovation dispensers and it will be also be available to retailers installing new Ovation dispensers.

According to Nielsen and retailer research, studies have shown that GSTV's programming and retailer promotions deliver significant increases in returning customers, customer conversion from the forecourt to the c-store, c-store sales lift, and fuel sales lift.

“Wayne has long been a leader in technology at the pump and has an extremely strong distribution network, making them the best partner to grow our television network to the next level,” said Gas Station TV CEO, David Leider. “The new stations installed from this relationship will quickly increase our already industry-leading viewership and market penetration to more than 70 million monthly at-the-pump consumers, placing us at the very top of Nielsen’s weekly television rankings.”

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