International luxury department stores' Printemps is deploying ViaDirect wayfinding software in its New Shopping Center in Qatar
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What is Wayfinding and why is it so important for the ViaDirect solution ?
We have all wondered what is the right direction to go to a specific place. Who has never turned in a circle, looking for a specific store, without even knowing where he is? That’s when wayfinding has all its importance.
We’ll let you discover what’s behind it.
In the beginning, the term wayfinding referred to the tools used by explorers to travel the oceans and unexplored territories. However, its definition has changed somewhat. Nowadays, it determines all the tools and methods used to position oneself in an environment, a place and to move from a given place to another.
The wayfinding or directional signage allows people to accompany people on their way to get to a new place by orienting themselves in complex places such as airports, shopping malls, university campuses, hospitals, office workplaces, train stations, and even amusement parks.
Thanks to a coherent and easy-to-use architecture, design and software, digital wayfinding has evolved in order to remain at the heart of digital innovation and led to interactive kiosks that are mixing communication, orientation, and interaction.
You can see an example of a kiosk on the right side of the text, one of our installations, a Pelikan model.
Nevertheless, even if one of the solutions to this problem could be the printed wayfinding, it is not the most efficient one because it is expensive over time, ephemeral and not interactive. That’s why we find digital wayfinding with kiosks, i.e. signs to group 5 important steps of spatial orientation.
Step 1. Know your current location
How do you want to arrive at your destination if you don’t even know your current location? This is the purpose of wayfinding to determine your location first, so that you can situate yourself and then orientate yourself.
Step 2. Searching for a place or service
If you are looking for your location, it is probably to orient yourself in a space to get to a specific place such as a store in a shopping mall, or a specialist’s office in a hospital. On the other hand, you may be looking for your current location to find a service nearby, without having any specific idea, such as restaurants, toilets, reception centers. Thanks to digital wayfinding, searches can be made with keyword searches and also by categories directly on the kiosk.
Step 3. The choice of the direction and the route to take
Once you have decided where you want to go, it is time for you to get the route to your destination. The software then transfers your request to get the shortest route and proposes it on an interactive map
Step 4. Tracking your chosen route
Once you have been able to visualize the route to your chosen destination, you might think that in the end you will never remember the route and that it is just a waste of time. But no! A wayfinding function can allow you to follow your route directly on your mobile, making your travel easier, as Viadirect offers for example.
Step 5. Recognition of the arrival point
Once you have arrived at your destination, you can check that your destination is correct by observing the places, stores and services in the vicinity on the map and comparing them to those currently near you.
Therefore, when well done, advanced wayfinding is up-to-date, interactive and complete. Wayfinding kiosks are therefore the best solution to improve the experience of your customers, and limit their frustrations related to time wasted searching for a route, a service. ViaDirect invests completely and durably in its work to guarantee to its customers a quality service with functional digital kiosks, an innovative design and coherent with your company allowing the exploitation of a 3D map and the transmission of key information.
A satisfied customer recommends a place. If this is what you want for your business. Don’t wait any longer and make an appointment with ViaDirect, the leading information and orientation solution, present in more than 35 countries, through the following link : Contact • ViaDirect