Tag: 3D map wayfinder

We are currently developing voice recognition feature for 3D Wayfinder. It will allow visitors to use wayfinding software without using touch-screens. Just say where you would like to go and wayfinder software will show you the way.

Voice recognition is becoming more popular and as the quality recognizing words is becoming better and mobile screens becoming smaller. It would be convenient to use voice orders instead of using touch-screens. Of course, there are privacy issues, as most of the voice recognition is done in servers. But for wayfinding software this is not an issue, as the wayfinding screens are public and nobody will make their private conversations near wayfinding screens.

How voice recognition for wayfinding works?

Let’s say you are looking for closest exit, toilet or just want to get a beer. So you just say “Exit”, “Closest toilet” or “Wayfinder, where can I get beer” and 3D Wayfinder can show you the route.

3D Wayfinder will use keywords and location names for voice recognition, the same way search functionality works. More keywords defined in wayfinder make the vocabulary larger. But definitely there will be AI implement in future. This will give much more possibilities. For example visitors canaska pint of Budweiser without “Budweiser” being entered as a keyword and still get to place where they can buy beer. Might be that the beer is not sold by pint. But at least they can get beer.

We can use languages for voice recognition, that are select in Wayfinder software. Languages can be add under settings in 3D Wayfinder administration panel. If possible, voice recognition can be active for all languages simultaniously. If not, we can use default language for voice recognition without selecting anything. After selecting prefered language wayfinder can switch also language for voice recognition. This depends capabilities of kiosk or touch-screen PC. Also, the challenge is to filter out background noise as wayfinder screens are usually in main entries and places where are more people around.

In future, voice recognition in wayfinding software will be available for all customers. It has to be turn on under settings and it would also require template that allows voice search. We will add this feature to our basic templates. So far, we can implement it in custom templates. So if you order custom template from us, we can also make search by voice available.

The world biggest cruise ship “Wonder Of The Seas” has more than 2800 rooms and accommodates more than 6900 people. Wonder of the Seas measures 1,188 feet (362 m) in length and has a gross tonnage of 236,857 across all 18 decks. Since all rooms and activities are compactly together on cruise ships, it is necessary for people to have all the information on important activities and locations. Indoor positioning on cruise ships is an important comfort for the passengers. We present to you the indoor positioning solution for a cruise ship created by 3D Wayfinder.

So far 3D Wayfinder has been used with a simple 2D map for small cruise ship. The ship has a total of 17 floors and around 1000 rooms. Below you see excerpts from five different floors.

Cruise ships have many different leisure options. As you could see on the photo, there are pools, saunas, a theatre, different shops, kids playground and many more. If you are going to be spending time on a cruise ship, it is very important to know where the different rooms and areas are from the very beginning.

Using GPS on metal vessels is difficult. Indoor positioning on cruise ships can be organized using iBeacons, WIFI or QR code that can be opened through a web browser. 3D Wayfinder has used all the proposed solutions and we know exactly how to build the system in a way that would be the most suitable for the customer.

Digital maps on cruise ships

On large ships there is a high risk of getting lost. Therefore, it is important to have interactive maps in various places on the ship. 3D Wayfinder map shows the route to the desired location with a red line. In comparison to regular printed maps, digital maps significantly reduce the time it takes to search for a location. On regular maps, it is very difficult to determine your location and then understand where you want to go.

Easily updated information boards in the elevators

In addition to the possibility of finding the location, 3D Wayfinder also offers information boards that can be installed in the elevator. Information about events on the cruise ship can be added to the screens. You can also share information about meal times and the use of other important services, which is necessary for all visitors. In addition, it is very easy for employees to exchange information on the screens.

Digital maps on a cruise ships as billboards

Most people do a lot of shopping on cruise ships as cruise ships often have better prices than regular shopping centers. In order for different shops to advertise their goods, it is possible to add advertisements to the map. This can be a good way to attract people to the store. In addition to shops, services like spa could also be advertised in a kiosk. For example, additional information could be added to the location and people could view the spa services and price list without them having to go to the spa in person.

In the world of entertainment, it is important to stand out and offer customers all the comforts possible. And one of the great conveniences for visitors is certainly a practical navigation service. If you are interested in the services offered by 3D Wayfinder, please contact our sales department.

ISE 2023 Expo is probably most important technology expo in Europe. This year it was biggest yet. ISE 2023 attracted 58,107 unique attendees from 155 countries, making 133,606 visits to the show floor. Especially busy was Multi-Technology hall. There we had most fun meeting companies too. Special thanks goes to for citizens of Barcelona. Even with limited English they left to us superb expression. We were pleased that the event was in city where people are kind and helpful for the first time visitors.

ISE 2023 Expo organization

ISE 2023 Expo experience is that was really well organized Expo. There were large halls and easy to access booths. The catering was also very well organized and managed. We saw some very unique solutions. Especially interesting was 4K LED screens with IR touch. Making it suitable to use in interactive digital signage and 2D or 3D wayfinding solutions.

In two days we when we visited expo, we got a lot of positive feedback for our software. Companies were most interested in our 3D maps that we have built for indoor navigation. Some of the companies we visited needs to be highlight also in our blog.

Nice meetings at the event

With representatives of Cisco we quickly found a common topic of conversation. We talked about smart rooms and today’s business environment. We understood in that moment how right our direction has been for years. Also especially happy to see that we have yet to offer more opportunities then international corporations like Cisco can do. This motivates us to keep working hard.

Highly interested meeting we had was with BrightSign. Their digital signage players were interesting that can be potentially used for our software. We talked about to give better hardware tools for our clients. Especially interested us plug and play solution. Also it may be solution for our clients, who have little experience with digital signage and players for interactive screens. If everything goes well then we will have also hardware for our clients that is reliable with good price range.

We also visited booths of Clebex and Telelogos. Both are big IT companies and with very interesting field. They are definitely worth to explore. We started of right a way with productive talks and of course our topic was about potential of 3D Wayfinding. 3D Wayfinder software gives additional tools build powerful business solutions for end-clients!

Interactive displays manufactures at ISE

We got new and interesting knowledge in Chinese display manufacturer HCTek. Interactive displays is what future holds. HCTec is large interactive display manufacturer providing OEM, ODM and OTM solutions. Many well known display brands get their interactive displays from that factory. For us it was important to know what future brings. Talking was very productive and we had good laughs and took picture!

Then we met LED manufacturer AOTO. In our talks we covered many aspects of today digital signage market directions. Also we both agreed that future will be LED. Especially in indoor and outdoor digital signage field. We were also invited to their 30th anniversary celebrations to Happy Hour.

Our sales director Rainer Saar shared his experiences.

We have build many wayfinding solutions for hospitals. Hospitals have more options than refugee camps. Refugee camps are usually underfunded and over-crowded. This creates new set of challenges completely different to hospitals. Navigating refugee camps with 3D Wayfinder software is easy and avaible for everyone who have smartphone. Read more about wayfinding software for refugee camps.

First you can not set up self-service touch kiosks in refugee camp. Because it is expensive and easy to vandalize. Traditional maps can be confusing and difficult to position yourself there. Our team has discussed this a lot. Especially now, when we have crisis in Ukraine. More than 3 million people have escaped Ukraine mainly through Poland.

Luckily smartphone prices have gone down in last 5 years and are wildly used even rural conflict areas. It is not uncommon to see at least one refugee family member with smartphone. This one piece of technology is what we can use to refugee advantage in these large camps.

3D Wayfinder software is HTML-based so any smart device is more than enough to use it. We have developed easy to use QR code based solution to position your self inside the camps and our software guides you to needed destination. QR is cheap and if there is no need for investments on touch screens/self-servicing kiosks it will bring price down significantly for organizations that manage these refugee camps.

QR-code based wayfinding software for refugee camps

The idea itself is simple, organizations provide refugees on camps with Wifi or 4G through local telecom service providers. Tents are given code/name and provided with QR code stickers. Refugee scans it to open software and automatically positioning them self. Then selecting via search or from list the tents code/name and get live direction to their destination. Vital location are highlighted for quick selecting in software. If they still get lost they can scan near by tents QR code and get new direction from there. We can provide 2D maps of the area and tents through aerial photos. It reduces the human labor to map the camp on site. This solutions is still under development and all ideas to improve it are warmly welcome!

Let us build better future for us in cities and for people who are forced to be refugees!

Airports are often places that many people do not visit very often and therefore they can be difficult to navigate. Finding the right gate in the right terminal is something that can cause a lot of stress under the time pressure and unknown venue. Luckily there are wayfinding solution for airports. Also we have installed our software in many airports across the globe what make navigating easier.

Integrating different features into Wayfinding system is made easy thanks to the open platform. One solution that could help airport visitors is a Wayfinding solution that directs user to the right gate after scanning the boarding pass. Also integrating barcode reader to Wayfinding will make user experience better and can help show innovativeness of the venue.

Lately, we were happy to offer our solution to one of the biggest airports in Indonesia. Our local partners helped them to set up the whole system. It is also based on enterprise license server solution which offers them a possibility to host solution in their own server. Also they wanted to include boarding pass barcode scanning feature. They want to give their visitors an easy and quick way to find their desired gate.

Indoor positioning is the right solution for airports. We believe that guiding people with the help of 3D Wayfinder software will make using the airport more convenient. User comfort and satisfied guests should be the goal of every airport. We hope you had the idea to contact us for wayfinding solution for airports.

3D Wayfinder has developed many solutions to airports. To get some more information about different integration possibilities contact us today and we are happy to give you a demonstration of our software. If you are interested of our wayfinding solution for airports then contact our sales department.

3D Wayfinder uses a in-house built JavaScript Keyboard for search input. A On Screen Keyboard (Keyboard later on) is used when there is no physical keyboard. For security and ease of use reasons we can’t use the Operating Systems builtin Keyboard.

Previously we used our own User Interface library to manage the state of our applications. But times have moved on and we are now using other more popular and powerful open source libraries like AngularJS and VueJS. We managed to use the old Keyboard also with these libraries. But it wasn’t very handy and meant that we had to import libraries that were not necessary for whole project (eg jQuery).

So we decided to get free of 3rd party libraries and make it easy to install via npm (nodejs package manager).

Our On Screen Keyboard is usable with any UI library that supports importing ES6 module formats. You can define Your own keyboard layouts and actions with a JSON layout file. So we can have any language that we ever need and also make also fully custom keyboards that only a number pad or have special buttons for custom actions. Also the Keyboard itself allows to switch the layout.

Check out the GitHub page.

Wayfinding software could make visiting retail stores more pleasant. Getting lost in big shopping mall is something that most of us has experienced. Finding what you need might be especially tricky when you are in the shop for the first time and therefore it would be good if you have the mall layout always in your pocket. Our wayfinding software can make it possible! 

For retailers it is important to keep their costumers happy so that they will keep returning. Often they do it by advertising sales, offering loyalty programs or organizing events in stores. We do believe that keeping costumers happy is very important and therefore have developed a solution that makes it easier for clients to find the products they need.

Needs of people are in a constant change and it is important to make shopping as efficient as possible. Finding what we need can be especially complicated in stores that we do not visit every day and are not familiar with the layout of the store. For example those can be a construction or interior design stores. Using wayfinding solutions in such places makes the visit more pleasant and invites the costumer to return.

Using wayfinding solutions based on iBeacons can quickly and precisely locate the costumers in store and help them find what they need. System can be used on mobile and using costumers live location show them the path to find a right shelf and wanted items location on there.

Example how different product groups are visualized on 3D map.

Wayfinding software is useful when costumer doesn’t know where to look for a wanted item. That can be for example gourmet foods – some shops but them together with everything else when others have a separate section for them. It is possible to search for different product groups but also just for one specific item. That way can wayfinding solution benefit both the store and client.

For retail managers using wayfinding software is beneficial and easy. We can offer you different solutions to fit your business strategy. In case you need to change layout on the shelf then there is no reason to worry about that. Changing data in software is easy and anyone can do it without any special technological skills.

It is also possible to create shopping list prior entering malls and wayfinding software can help to create the efficient way to find the items that are on list in a logical order.

Main goal with our developed software is to benefit both the retailers and their clients. Contact us with your idea and we will offer you a solution to make your costumers experience even better!

Many things in our new administration panel work a little bit differently than they used to. If you need help to figure things out, check 3D Wayfinder user manual.

We have updated all the topics and we add information when new features are added. You can find 3D Wayfinder user manual from our web page under “Docs” from main menu or you can use the direct link https://3dwayfinder.com/documentation/user-manual/

User manual for our previous administration panel is also still available, you can find it here: https://3dwayfinder.com/documentation/user-manual/#5

It has taken some time and lots of effort but we have finally made it. New 3D Wayfinder administration panel is finally online and usable for all clients.

We have made many smaller and bigger improvements to make 3D Wayfinder administration panel  easier to use. Especially for new clients. For example the editor has been changed to make it more logical. All the materials have previews for better overview and managing of 2D maps is more convenient.

It should also be more comfortable for those who prefer to use our app on smartphones or tablets.

There are still some kinks to straighten out so if you notice something that isn’t working the way it is supposed to, let us know.

“Sign in” leads straight to new administration panel but if you prefer to use the old one, go to old.3dwayfinder.com or use the link at the bottom of the sign in page. 

There are lots of different wayfinding software and it might be difficult to decide which solution to pick. We have used our experience and gathered some suggestions that will help you choose the best wayfinding application.

Over all the best wayfinding software application is always the one that adapts exactly to your specific needs. Having more options and can help to cater this.

Best Wayfinding software should be..

Wayfinding application should be easily integrated with other applications. One of the most common integration is showing social media content in wayfinding applications. As shopping malls and other public building usually have their news already on Twitter, they would like to include the news feed also in wayfinding.

Have a look at our wayfinding possibilities here.

You can choose to buy the product and do all the hosting and managing yourself. Or you can pay for this service. In that case make sure how much you can control the app once it’s up and running. Are you able to change the opening and closing times yourself? Can you add a new location and generate a path way? Or do you need to contact the company for every little change.

Look and feel customization is also something that should be provided. Choosing from existing templates is more cost effective than custom designs but even then it should be possible to change the basic things like the font, it’s size and colors.

Nowadays you can pretty much always choose between 2D or 3D maps. 3D maps are effective and showy on the screen, but it could be costly and time consuming if you want to change the location of the kiosk. The best wayfinding software should provide the option to use both.

You should also check how accurate and detailed the maps are going to be. Although the best way to ensure accuracy is to provide correct data yourself.

Even if you want to use only information kiosks in the beginning, it never hurts to be prepared. If you choose the application that is also mobile friendly, it will save time and money in the future.

Indoor positioning and navigation

The indoor positioning and navigation ability is a must while using the wayfinder mobile app. Right now the iBeacon technology, that uses smartphone’s Bluetooth connection seems to be the most reliable one. Navigation system can also use WiFi networks but it is cost effective only in places like big malls, where every shop already has their own network.

When visitors are searching for something, targeted ads are most impactful. Customers can be attracted by giving out coupons, offering special deals, providing additional information. While nobody is using the information kiosk for wayfinding, the whole screen could be used to display ads.

And last but not least, the pricing. Make sure to find out beforehand what are you going to pay for. For example: will it cost more when you want to add another kiosk later?

There are some other questions you should ask:

Can you use the app online?

Is multiple language support provided?

Can the specific routes for disabled access be displayed?

Will the app collect user data for statistics?

To find the answers to these questions contact: info@3dwayfinder.com.

Have a nice summer,

3D Wayfinder Team