One of the main frustrations that visitors experience at healthcare locations stems from directional issues. Large hospitals and healthcare facilities have elaborate interiors, endless hallways, identical wings and confusing labyrinths of waiting rooms and stairways, which most patients and visitors have difficulty finding their way around. Even directional signs are not always helpful, and staff members tend to be in a hurry, unable to provide dedicated assistance.

Luckily, there are mobile wayfinding apps that make it easier for patients and visitors to navigate through the "hospital maze." As the majority of patients and visitors today are on mobile, end the frustration by incorporating “geofencing and proximity beacons” into wayfinding apps, ensures that people will never get lost within the facility.

Getting Better with Beacons and Geofencing

As healthcare becomes more consumer-centric, the use of mobile wayfinding apps not only makes it easy for patients to find their way around but also reduces the administrative overhead of the facility. Beacons help patients feel connected as they worry about long hallways or waiting rooms.
How does it work?

Beacons employ energy-efficient, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to pinpoint a user's location. By placing Bluetooth proximity beacons throughout the healthcare facility, visitors and staff with a wayfinding app installed can receive directions based on their present location. Notifications can also be provided sent when users wander off course.

Mobile wayfinding apps powered by geofencing and beacons offer the following features:

• Interactive map updates
• Receive information messages
• Follow turn-by-turn directions
• Locate emergency rooms, laboratories, and other hospital locations
• Search physician and service directories
• Engage patients with relevant location-based push messages, tips, and alerts
• Assist with indoor and outdoor navigation, check-ins, pharmacy, etc.
• Improve facility atmosphere
• Parking lot navigation

When it comes to assisting visitors when they arrive at the facility, mobile wayfinding can compliment the efforts of hospital administrators. It can free up staff and cut down on time. Hospitals which deploy mobile wayfinding run more efficiently.

Admissions Assistance
With the help of beacons, the admitting process can be expedited. Whether sitting in waiting rooms or before they reach the hospital, patients can fill out forms from their personal devices or prepare what they need for admission.

Visitors love fast assistance; they appreciate reduced wait times, and nothing compares to being able to check wait times. From the instant that a patient arrives for a check-up appointment, a personalized push notification can greet them and simultaneously notify the staff. The greeting can include wait times, directions, or steps to proceed.

Communication
Coordination and communication between hospital staff are very critical in a time-sensitive environment. With beacons, all hospital members taking care of a certain patient can communicate through the app - noting visits to patient's room, completed tests, medication dosing schedules, etc. to ensure that everyone is on the same page. During emergency situations, physicians and staff can be notified of faster response times.

Brighter Atmosphere
Beacons can make the facility brighter. For instance, as someone walks around near the cafeteria, the Beacon interacts with the app sending a push notification message, "Have you had your five food groups? Grab a bite. The cafeteria is just around the corner. Show this coupon for and receive an apple."

Post-discharge Management
Beacons also assist patients leaving the hospital or healthcare facility. If the patient needs to pick up medication, beacons can guide the patient to the pharmacy. For other appointments such as X-Rays and specialty clinics, beacons can guide visitors from building to building.

Supplementing existing signage with a mobile wayfinding app powered by geofencing and beacons gives satisfaction to your patients while engaging with them on a personal level.The hospital is a brand. Boost a hospital's brand, improve wayfinding, and brighten up the place as well.

We've all been in similar situations at some point or another. The feeling of not finding your way around can be daunting; it can be especially stressful in a new place. Even when we ask people for directions, sometimes they tend to be unclear.

Modern Digital Wayfinding Plays an Important Role

Digital wayfinding consists of tools and processes people use to find their way from a starting place to a destination. It combines art and science with the goal of guiding people through a man-made space.

For this reason, many organizations are integrating wayfinding into their digital signage to successfully guide people where to go, show them how to get there, and even provide additional information about the place. They are shifting to digital signage as a solution because traditional printed signage is usually out-of-date, time-consuming, and expensive.
For instance, campuses and hospitals can send messages and emergency information while leveraging the same system to include maps and directions to their building and campuses.

Digital wayfinding signage can come in different forms such as:

• Mobile integration: Mobile devices are now being utilized as a digital wayfinding solution. This is helpful for the next generation of users who depend on apps from their phones.
However, the technology can also benefit drivers, passengers, bicyclists, pilots, etc. who use an embedded wayfinding device.

• Digital Wayfinding Kiosks: Placing digital wayfinding kiosks can help visitors find their next location with ease. Kiosks are also dynamic, easy to change and easy to use.

Usages of Digital Wayfinding Signage

Digital Wayfinding signage is now being used in several venues and industries - in hotels and resorts, convention centers, colleges and universities, medical facilities, public spaces, event venues, communities and a lot more.

Hotels, resorts, and even cruise ships are using digital wayfinding signage as well. For example, wayfinding signage in Marriott's hotel chain allows them to show shops, restaurants and other amenities available to the property, improving their guests' experience.

Benefits of Digital Wayfinding Solutions

1. Time Saving
Digital Wayfinding Solutions reduce the time spent looking for a destination. Nothing is more important than being able to know where you are going and how to get there quick and easily. You will not spend time trying to find people who can help or being sent in the wrong direction.

2. Reduces Mood Dampeners
Stress, frustration, and worries are lessened as problem questions such as "where am I going? Alternatively, "I cannot find a place" are easily solved.

3. Cost Effective
Static signage is prone to wear and tear, thus they need to change every number of years. Digital wayfinding eliminates the cost of printing maps and signs every time an update is needed. Also, updating digital signage is inexpensive and can be done easily.

4. Ease of Use
Factors such as maintenance, elevator outages, construction, and event schedules can be changed in real time.

5. Branding Opportunity
Digital wayfinding can incorporate an organization's brand, logo, and colors. Additional information such as company products, services, and offerings can be tied directly to the wayfinding feature.

6. Display Relevant Information
Pertinent information such as weather changes, emergency alerts or location-specific news can be shown as well. Specific industries can include their restaurant menus; wait times for a particular service or event, venue seat layouts, or screening schedules.

The benefits of using a wayfinding digital signage solution cannot be denied. It proves to be an effective solution for organizations in enhancing customer service experience and increasing employees’ productivity. Having digital signage shows that your organization is also concerned about using current technology and practices that deliver a better experience overall.

A successful wayfinding approach is to fulfill a user's wayfinding needs by using accessible information in the environment. It is concentrated on making location and space information effectively navigable. That is, providing users with a way to find a path from their starting point to a destination.

Traditional wayfinding solutions allow the user to create an invisible path in their mind, a sense of direction derived from static signage and arrows placed throughout the facility. The new approach to wayfinding is to use a more practical, digital solution, that of an illustrated path which quickly and subconsciously eliminates doubt for the user.

The digital approach enables the inclusion of additional information such as text copy, media, and schedule information which enhance a user's experience. Furthermore, when these digital features are coupled with a legacy wayfinding system or even a mobile wayfinding system, the most comprehensive wayfinding experience can be offered.

Common Sense Approach and Principles for Effective Wayfinding

1. Getting started

Planning a wayfinding strategy can be challenging especially if you are new to the concepts. Several factors and some stakeholders need to be considered and catered to. It is recommended to bring together all people involved in the wayfinding design, including focus groups when possible.

This is to prevent any conflicts of interest within the organization. For example, in a hotel wayfinding plan, the needs of the receptionists are to be considered, but also those of the housekeepers, security officers, and car service companies, etc.

2. Keep a fresh perspective

In beginning your research, consider involving a location visit, creating a detailed floor plan to include special nuances or landmarks, and hold a meeting with facility officers to gather a better sense of project scope. Primary and secondary destinations such as elevators, stairs, restrooms, etc. should be identified. It is also vital to analyze the flow of visitors, how they navigate through the facility and how they use existing directional signs.

3. Understand user's needs

Gather as much information and feedback as possible. Every organization has users with different views on a potential wayfinding system, and most tend to know the problems and challenges within the areas you are creating a solution for. It is a good idea to talk to them and invite them to the planning meeting. Those users tend to have valuable ideas that can be considered and explored.

4. Make the message fit the users

Short messages and visual systems make it easy for users to find their way. A consistent message should also be established. For instance, in the example of a hospital, visitors may need to locate the "X-Ray Department," but physicians refer to it as "Imaging." To prevent confusion amongst visitors, a single nomenclature or naming convention system can be appropriated after careful consideration.

Factors to be Considered in Wayfinding Design

Visibility.
Plan to install the wayfinding signage so that it is visible from all approachable directions. Facilitate a simple and clear creation. Avoid elements that can compromise the use of the sign. Consider the signage background, color, font size as well as where it should be mounted.

Lighting.
Consider where the signage needs to be placed. Will it be placed under direct sunlight, indoors with top-down or ambient lighting, or in dark environments? How will these lighting choices affect the materials chosen, specifically the glass of the screen?

Clarity.
It is important that the wayfinding signage is easy to understand and intuitive to use. Use simple words and menus that users can read and follow. A best case scenario is a system which requires no instruction to use, and when basic instructions are provided, they are clear and concise, often displaying iconography or short video loops.

Consistency.
Users expect to see signage in particular locations such as when they enter a building or step out from the elevator. Using a logical sequence, such as a numbering or coloring convention, is important as well.

Usability.
Ensure that signage is placed at decision locations such as T-Interactions or foyer entrances. An effective wayfinding system can assist the decision-making process as users approach an intersection.

Seamless.
Wayfinding planning can help users navigate through entry and exit points. For example, signage placed in car parks can guide users to building entrances, or bridge multiple buildings across a campus map.

Accessibility.
A wayfinding strategy should also consider users with disabilities, English as a second language, or the elderly. Some provisions within the interface can be made, such as adjustable button height, conservative wayfinding paths, or Multilanguage toggle ability.

Digital Wayfinding Solutions

Interactive Wayfinding Digital Signage makes it easy for you to update department location or direction changes. This helps to keep visitors apprised of up to date information.

We offer our assistance in developing custom interactive directories and wayfinding solutions to enhance the visitor experience.

We work with your location planners, marketing experts, and project managers to create a wayfinding solution that meets your needs for guiding visitors through a powerful, intuitive, and responsive experience. We understand that a wayfinding strategy can be overwhelming to plan and undertake. Therefore we offer our expertise to help you get started and see through to completion.

Digital wayfinding kiosks and signage have been enhancing visitors' experience of years. The trend continues to be on the rise, and we can see why: these devices are being introduced in greater frequency within buildings and campuses, malls and venues, public spaces and residential communities, hotels and resorts, and other facilities.

With the purpose of providing an accurate location, intelligent paths, and easy-to-use interface, digital wayfinding is continuously improving to provide a better user experience. Media and tech companies are developing powerful software that uses cutting-edge technology to include features that fit the needs of every market and industry.

What features and trends can be predicted for 2016?

1. Enhanced Mapping Capabilities

Transforming a 2D map into a 3-dimensional map will be a great feature and a big sell for companies creating wayfinding software. That 3D "immersion experience” offers a virtual environment, to enhance a viewer's experience and induce a realistic sense of spatial awareness and familiarity.

2. Mobile Integration

Today's consumers are more reliant on their smartphones, tablets and personal devices. They want fast information -in their hands. With this demand, improved wayfinding software will become adaptable and integrated into consumer devices with increased prevalence. Formats taken can include: downloadable mobile apps physically installed sensors and wifi solutions which push limited information to the mobile device. As an example, a wayfinding company integrates their software into mobile applications that provide walking directions, maps, and location-specific content.
Foresight's include: delivering coupons when consumers are near the physical store they are looking for, apps that offer direction and other information when landmarks are approached, or suggested path corrections when users deviate off course. These technologies introduce avenues for the personalized experience that customers have come to expect, and will become more common due to high demand and value.

It is likely that mobile integration will dominate the market and will be the preferred method of access for viewers and consumers who seek information.

3. Consistency

Unity serves as the golden rule in wayfinding and interface design. Throughout the user experience, the wayfinding system has to remain consistent, as this will pay off in the eyes of the consumers.

A valuable wayfinding software feature is one that provides optimized communication through visual aesthetics. This can be seen in the entire software layout, navigation, font size of typography, branding standards chosen, etc. When everything remains consistent, the software is easier and more pleasing to use.

4. Enhanced Branding Efforts

Branding is an important component of wayfinding software. Through a stylized experience, businesses can unify their images, signs, and logos with information on digital kiosks or other IT systems to create greater impact and more engagement with the viewer's experience. This also allows individual companies to use their logos as a reference that will help consumers find what they are looking for; bringing the experience full circle, while reinforcing brand awareness and loyalty.

5. Dynamic Data Integrations

Another wayfinding feature that is becoming popular is the provision of additional elements to enhance the wayfinding information.

For instance, in convention venues, users can first use wayfinding kiosks to locate booths, shows, trade fairs, conferences, etc. in different halls. Next, additional information can be provided by pressing the "know more" button. This information can include details of the meeting, speaker bios, schedule, and a lot more. In some scenarios, videos or other media are coupled with the wayfinding feature.

As more data becomes available, a more comprehensive wayfinding kiosk experience is enabled for the viewer.

6. Performance Analytics

Today's interactive wayfinding technologies are incorporating data performance analytics to track kiosk usage. These features help businesses to learn how customers interact with digital touch points and what strategic insights are dictated by these behaviors. Insights such as favorite searches, product selections, and decisions made can lead to more personalized experiences for visitors.

While convenience remains a top priority for wayfinding kiosks, accessibility is of equal paramount. Gaining the insight of which particular locations are more often searched can help business owners add more signage to highly frequented areas.

For example, the data on a mall wayfinding kiosk reveals that the flower shop is being searched more than others. Knowing this, a business owner can create strategies to make their shop more visible and easier to find. Alternatively, choose to leverage the kiosk as advertising space to capitalize on measured traffic.

These wayfinding trends offer a better opportunity to serve more viewers, guests, visitors and consumers, which in turn results in a very desirable wayfinding experience; and thusly a lasting reputation for a comfortable visit.