The last weekend in March; signage, technology and passenger wayfinding took over Vegas. The Digital Signage Expo (DSE) 2017 offered an array of new products designed to make wayfinding and signage easier to navigate and more eye catching.
New Product Showcases
DSE offered one-on-one interviews with a few spotlighted companies for their most recent releases in products. Aimed at transportation, a few of the products that were introduced were aimed at the growing field of making signage easier to use, more eye-catching and offering the ability for agencies to gather information from their users.
Brightsign LLC introduced its HO523 Media Player. The new media player is a separate appliance to provide 4K imagery to signage displays. “We use a separate appliance because a PC may glitch and the quality is not as good. This OPS player has been designed around our architecture and it gives you a built in feel. It slides into the back of the screen, which makes it easy for both maintenance and installation,” explained Jeff Hastings, CEO Brightsign.
AdMobilize introduced its Matrix Creator, which is made up of a number of different sensors to work as a ‘plug-and-play’. “You connect our platform and you can create applications for digital signage, it can respond to your emotions, it can trigger ads depending on who is in front of your sign,” explained Rodolfo Saccoman. “Suddenly you made a board be truly smart."
NEC Displays has released the NP-PXI004UL. The video feed does not require any feed as it is loaded directly into the media player. “With laser phosphor you have the ability to keep the image up,” said Rick McPherson.
For smaller agencies, Bitvu introduced a Small Media Player, which as Steven Glenister, chief technical officer, described, “it is extremely economical; we’re trying to give people who didn’t have access to signage that ability. We want to give people a chance to have their screen time.”
On the larger scale inLighten introduced the Orbit Video Built In Board, which is a full service digital signage wall that includes wayfinding. “Messaging can be immediaatly updated from ma moble device or tablet and as it is uploaded it will be displayed (on the screen),” said inLighten SVP Doug Braun. “It also comes with a website which allows people who are not in the area to update poster context to the multi-channel delivery system.” In the transportation field it could be used in stations both for wayfinding, but also used in cases where there are delays.
Making Outdoor Displays More Efficient
There were multiple developments showcased in the area of outdoor displays. The trend seemed to be leaning more towards thinner, brighter displays that were self-contained to prevent water from entering as well as lowering maintenance needs.
Samsung displayed its OH55F Series, designed for transit wayfinding and signage. The screen is IP56 rated and can be viewed in direct sunlight, making placement in transit structures and stations more flexible. Along with being waterproof and filterless — the protective glass on the display protects against potential objects that may be thrown at it. It can also withstand extreme temperatures.
Peerless-AV introduced the Xtreme Outdoor Daylight Readable Displays, which were designed to be sleek and have and be easy to see in the daylight. The display has optical bonding, which refers to the protective glass on the front of the display to reflect sunlight with a lower reflection loss (from when the sun hits the display and creates a mirror image, making it unable to view in the sun) than a display that is created with an optical bonding. The optical bonding's main purpose is to allow for the display to not loose readability in the sun. The Xtreame displays are also impact and corrosion resistant, with no filters to change.
The Latest in Transportation Kiosks
E Ink, which offers wayfinding applications that run off solar energy, displayed an energy-efficient screen within a CHK America kiosk. The tablet screen has a sensor that turns on the tablet and displays when the next train or bus is arriving. The tablet and the kiosk do not put off light, which is ideal for areas that are facing zoning problems. E Ink offers 'a paper like technology', the pigments used in their signage and tablets are reflective ink and unlike a printed version it can be tailored specifically to the user. E Ink also announced that it has begun introducing color pigments that can be used in static or interactive displays.
Trueform Digital's Smart Mobility Digital Totems are another low-energy wayfinding system. The weatherproof kiosks offer a bright display that is visible in bright conditions. They can also be customized to offer a number of different services including pedestrian information, USB device charging, help and assistance and digital advertising displays. The enclosures are designed to be resistant to vandalism and extreme temperatures.
Show Experience
The show floor opened on March 29 and experienced attendance that was 20 percent higher than the previous year. Attendees were able to experience indoor and outdoor displays; including those that can incorporate touchscreen and customization.
