New system of digital totems to guide visitors around city

[dutchman]

Coventry will be the first city in Europe to unveil ‘digital totems’ to help shoppers and visitors navigate their way around the city centre.



A total of 16 Wayfinding totems, costing a total of £380,000, have been placed around the city centre and will be switched on from Tuesday December 15.

With the help of large touchscreen displays, the computers will help pedestrians find useful information about the city, maps, activities and places to go.

Users will be able to browse through specific locations including shops, visitor attractions, restaurants and businesses using either an interactive ‘cloud’ or via a keyboard specific search.

Once the location is found, the digital map will show the user the most direct walking route to their destination.

Users will be able to trial parts of the system and give feedback before it goes fully live in January.

Coun Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services at Coventry City Council, said: “Over the next few weeks in the run-up to Christmas and New Year the totems will be turned on to show users how the system will work and to get a flavour of what they can expect before they go fully live early next year.

“During this time, users will be able to email feedback on what they think about the system, which we’ll use to ensure we have everything people want in place, ready to go in January.

“We’re leading the way as the first city in the whole of Europe to have these totems installed – another proud first for Coventry – and it shows clearly that along with all the changes taking place, we are creating a city that people will want to visit and that residents can be rightly proud of.”

The totems have been paid for by European Regional Development Fund grant funding.

Richard Westhead, managing director of One Digital Solutions, who developed and installed the totems, said: “This marks a very exciting landmark in the modern history of Coventry, with the first of the new generation Wayfinding units being installed for trialling in the city.

“Months of hard work and consultation with Coventry City Council have gone in to developing this technology so that it will exactly meet the needs of Coventry now and in the future, and we’re sure it will receive a very warm welcome from residents and visitors to the city alike.”

[rebbonk]

They'll go the way of the round electronic advertising stations. - And they'll be a prime target for vandalism.

[dutchman]

Remember when there was huge scrolling map in Market Way with a big arrow pointing to "you are here"?

[rebbonk]

Remember when there was huge scrolling map in Market Way with a big arrow pointing to "you are here"?

Yes.

[dutchman]

They probably should have stuck with it!

Unveiling of Coventry's new digital totems delayed by power shortage



The unveiling of Coventry’s new digital totems was delayed today due to a lack of power.

The ‘Wayfinding’ totems will help shoppers and visitors navigate their way around the city with the use of a touch screen computer.

The totems, which are dotted at 16 locations across the city centre, were due to be turned on earlier today, but a power box going down meant this did not happen.

Once turned on, the totems will have three pages available for users until they go fully live in January.

The first page will show the area inside the Ring Road and facilities such as car parks, shops, restaurants and where all the totems are.

This will be followed by a more detailed description of your current location and also a ‘heads up’ map, showing you what you should be able to see if you look around.

Coventry is the first city in Europe to install the system, which has cost £380,000 with all the money coming from European Regional Development Fund grant funding.

• The locations of all 16 totems are: University Square, Earl Street, Millennium Place, Ironmonger Row, Broadgate, Bull Yard, Market Way (Shelton Square), Lower Precinct, Bishop Street, Lidice Place, Croft Road, Gosford Street, Hales Street, Little Park Street. Still to be installed at Coventry Railway Station and Belgrade Plaza.

[rebbonk]

Where's the ginger gnome? What does she say?

[dutchman]

Kamikaze Coventry £380k digital maps direct people to jump off 20ft bridge!



Expensive digital maps recently installed in Coventry city centre are directing people to jump off a 20ft high bridge.

The devices - dubbed wayfinding totems - were unveiled by Coventry City Council last month in a bid to help visitors find their way to businesses and landmarks across the city.

But the £380,000 pieces of hi-tech kit have been hit by a series of technical glitches which have seen users directed to wrong locations, through closed shopping centres and even off the edge of tall structures.

One suggested route from The Burges to Tesco Express recommends people plunge 20ft from a bridge in the Upper Precinct, rather than use the escalator just yards away.

Another glitch sees thirsty shoppers directed to a fried chicken shop when directions to Cafe Nero are requested.

The council said certain routes may need tweaking and urged anyone who spotted an error to contact them.

In the early stages users were being directed to delivery addresses for some businesses rather than the correct location.

Software specialists from One Digital Solutions, who are installing the 16 maps, have been working with the council for weeks in a bid to iron out the problems.

The council said it was working on feedback from users and hoped the issues would be fixed before the final two totems were installed.

A council spokesperson said: “Over the last few weeks we have been testing the routes on the system to ensure that everything is in place as the totems begin to go live.

“Obviously there are many routes to check through, as there are 14 totems in place and currently almost 200 businesses listed – with hundreds more to come - so the various combinations of routes are extremely high.

“There may unfortunately be small sections on one or two of the routes that will need tweaking in the weeks to come, that we might have missed.

“If anyone does notice a route that is incorrect, there is a feedback email address on the screen where people can let us know and we’d welcome any input form users.”

[rebbonk]

The curse of the Ginger Gnome strikes again!

Seriously though, this points to lack of proper testing. This type of thing was rife in the motor industry where we used to say that we'd go at 'engineering risk.' Translated, that meant that the customer ended up doing our testing for us! - Look what happened to the UK motor Industry! Maybe the company behind this fiasco will go the same way?

[dutchman]

Down but not out: The future of Coventry's digital 'totems'



The future of Coventry's city centre totems has been revealed - and despite speculation, they won't be disappearing from the high street.

There had been talk that the 16 'wayfinding' totems dotted around the city would be removed in coming weeks, with suggestions that many of them no longer worked.

But Coventry City Council has confirmed there are no plans to permanently remove the totems, which were installed in 2015 to help visitors around the city.

It has been confirmed that "one or two" of the totems require work, with the one outside The Philip Larkin pub currently defective, and the one on Broadgate currently not working at all.

A spokesperson for the city council said: “The wayfinding totems have proved very popular and as more and more tourists and visitors are expected in Coventry as we build up to our year as City of Culture, they will help people to find our venues and tourist attractions.

“They are currently being updated and minor work is being carried out on one or two of the totems, but they should all be up and running in two or three weeks.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience while the work is carried out.”

I walked past the one in the picture today and didn't even notice it was there!