We have added CDN support in 3D Wayfinder. CDN makes loading 3D Wayfinder application faster especially outside Europe. Currently it is available only for custom projects, but soon it will be option for all 3D Wayfinder customers.

CDN or Content Delivery Network is a geographically distribute servers that cache content close to end users. A CDN allows for the quick transfer of files, media etc. It works best for static content. In 3D Wayfinder it is basically possible to load all wayfinding content including maps, location data, images, application files etc. CDN is widely used by sites with huge traffic like Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon.

CDN is currenlty available for 3D Wayfinder custom projects and we have to make manual changes to make it work. We would like to open it for all 3D Wayfinder users, but this will still need some development and testing.

CDN server network copies files to more than 200 locations over world and when the wayfinding application is load, the files will be served from closest server.

During the testings we got loading improvement more than 60%. Lodaing speed was around 6 seconds from CDN compare to 16 seconds from 3D Wayfinder server.

Delivering content over CDN needs static content. This means that the content from databases has to be cached first. For any live-data like positioning or statistics, CDN cannot use. As wayfinding maps don’t change that often, it is easy to make the location information and maps to be as static content. Just after every change in 3D Wayfinder administration panel, the content has to be submit to CDN network also.

If you are already 3D Wayfinder customer and like your wayfinding to be load over CDN, please contact our sales department or your contact person in 3D Wayfinder. We will keep you posted through our blog and let you know when CDN-option will be available for all users in administration panel.