Interactive outdoor kiosks are seen all over the place when we take a moment to think about it – from the ATMs we see driving down the road to the machines we use as we pay for a parking spot to the digital information we read when visiting a national monument. This self-service technology is everywhere we look and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. By utilizing an outdoor kiosk your company is able to add value for your customers by expanding offerings, making customers feel independent, and keeping up with the constant growth of the tech world. The dependable technology that outdoor kiosks are built with make them able to be used for an astounding amount of services by offering assistance and creating solutions for your business, campus, or city.
Wayfinding with an Outdoor Kiosk
Outdoor kiosks are often placed throughout campuses (both university and corporate), national parks, outdoor shopping plazas and malls, amusement parks, cemeteries, city centers and just about anywhere else where directions and maps are helpful. They are used to direct the public to their intended destination in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. Advanced Kiosk’s outdoor kiosks are sunlight readable, rust-free and incredibly durable for the weather they can, and often do, endure. Outdoor kiosks are able to show visitors where they currently are, where they are heading, and how they can get there.
College and university campuses no longer have to hand their freshman a printed map (which tends to get lost, misplaced and thrown away) when they install outdoor kiosks. These hardy wayfinding machines are able to provide directions to guide both students, and campus visitors, the right way. Tourist, historical areas, and city centers no longer need confusing, static outdoor maps that are difficult to read and navigate. Corporate campuses no longer need giant signs and arrows, pointing this way and that way, because the user can simply enter their destination to be shown the right way. Visitors will appreciate easy-to-use self-service technology that guides them without carrying a paper map around or having a stranger direct them where to go. Other places can provide the same assistance without needing to hire additional staff, or pay to constantly print paper maps. The outdoor kiosks used for wayfinding attract and encourage visitors to interact with them while adding value for potential customers, visitors, and students.
The Outdoor Information Kiosk
In popular travel and tourism areas there is usually a location that displays important information about the area – dining options, local attractions, historical information, et cetera. This information is often displayed on a board in the designated area or within a pamphlet that highlights only one business or feature. With an outdoor kiosk, an interactive and informational exhibit can easily be created and executed. The informational outdoor kiosk can be interacted with by the visitor(s) 24 hours a day, in all weather conditions. What this means is that it is more efficient because the information can be accessed whenever, not just during certain hours, while also saving money on payroll, printing and other overhead costs. Quite frankly, often the kiosks are making money for the organization that adopted the interactive technology because they can sell advertising to local businesses (if they choose to) and highlight their business on the computer kiosk.
An example of an outdoor kiosk that we love is the Enviro Kiosk being utilized by Jackson State University to use storytelling to educate visitors about the Jackson Zoo’s Sumatran tiger exhibit. JSU has placed an Enviro Kiosk outside of the tiger exhibit which utilizes what they call the “tiger cam”. Visitors can watch the tigers, through the kiosk, when they are outside and around the pond area. JSU’s football team are the Tigers, so this partnership with the Jackson Zoo made perfect sense. This kiosk offers information about the tigers, the school, and seamlessly enhances the exhibit by allowing the visitors the flexibility to view it when they want, without needing someone to guide them through the exhibit at specific times.
Outdoor Interactive Event Calendar
Chambers of Commerce, large event venues (stadiums, arenas, theaters) and city councils can, and should, use interactive outdoor kiosks to promote events happening in their communities. When you use a kiosk in order to promote local events, it becomes a powerful way to increase community involvement and to enable your events become widely known. Placing an outdoor kiosk in a popular local park allows anyone, at any time, to access an event calendar to see what is happening in the community. The benefit of an outdoor kiosk is that it needs zero supervision due to its rugged build and it is easy enough to navigate by anyone.
Advanced Kiosks has an event calendar software application called EventsCrier that is supported on any of our kiosk, including the outdoor Enviro Kiosk and the Transit Kiosk. It is used to display events and boost event attendance. Placing an outdoor kiosk in a popular area and using EventsCrier to display events will definitely create a greater sense of community as well as support local businesses and organizations.
Outdoor Ticketing Solutions
Outdoor kiosks are used to accept cash (or card) and to print out a ticket or other documentation as needed. This is why outdoor kiosks assist drivers when paying for parking, sell movie theater tickets, help people to order and pay for food, and even distribute name tags at an outdoor event. An outdoor kiosk creates simplicity when taking payments or supplying users/customers with important things that can be done easily with self service technology. The Transit Kiosk is often used as an outdoor ticketing kiosk because of its durability and versatility.
The Value of an Outdoor Kiosk
When you invest in self-service technology it adds both tangible and perceived value to your business, city, or organization. An outdoor kiosk demonstrates that your business is keeping up with technology and creating outcomes that include saving money, time, as well as seeing all of your customers appreciating and using the self-services you offer. Only a few of the popular possibilities were mentioned here, but as we at Advanced Kiosks have learned, outdoor kiosks can have endless uses.
