Every day, wayfinding tools for higher education are becoming more high-tech. The best campus wayfinding tools accomplish two primary goals: Helping the user orient themselves with their surroundings, and helping them get from one location to their desired location.
There are many wayfinding tools that effectively provide one of these two needs. A bird’s-eye map, for example, can be great for orientation, but challenging for a user to know the optimal route to their end point.
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The biggest advantage of digital wayfinding tools is their ability to adapt to changes on campus, quickly or even in real-time. The prevalence of digital signage, maps, and point-to-point wayfinding means higher education professionals can rapidly support their stakeholders with up-to-date information.
Higher education campuses are constantly in flux
Higher-ed campuses are constantly changing. Construction, events, traffic and parking updates, weather factors–the list goes on. So, the ability to easily make updates becomes critical to the adoption of any new wayfinding tool. This is the primary reason why the adoption of digital signage is so high (up to 70 percent, according to Higher Ed Tech Decisions), because it’s both expensive and time-consuming to update static signs, and defeats the purpose of being able to rapidly and effectively spread information across campus.
In addition to the known campus changes, including construction and major events like football games and commencement, there are fast-moving campus changes that require communication and impact wayfinding, from snowstorms to flooding and wind knocking down branches. When safety is involved, the need to move fast and rapidly disseminate information is more important than ever.
Atypical campus wayfinding tools
There is a range of other tools not typically considered “wayfinding,” but which support campus wayfinding and navigation. Real-time web cameras and data provide critical information for students, faculty, staff, and visitors: how long are the lines at a restaurant or coffee shop? Is my usual parking lot full? How many computer stations are available at the library? This type of information doesn’t orient or direct the user, but instead gives them information so they can better navigate campus given any time constraints as well as their current location. Emergency alerts by SMS message– particularly for safety needs– can also be considered a wayfinding tool, guiding recipients to take a different route or stay where they are.
Digital accessibility
Higher-ed institutions also want to make sure their campus wayfinding tools support the needs of all students to increase accessibility, and support the needs of those with disabilities. This may mean providing a separate portal within the campus app to ensure that digital signage, maps, and information can be accessed by everyone. Additionally, separate campus wayfinding systems for those with physical disabilities can make it much easier to choose routes that limit or eliminate stairs, curbs, and other obstacles. Many of the latest digital wayfinding tools for higher education (and other applications) are designed for accessibility.
Wayfinding for marketing and the campus experience
The application of campus wayfinding goes well beyond the utilitarian approach of getting from point A to point B. Digital wayfinding tools are a great resource for prospective students and their parents to learn about campus, chart their way around, and get a feel for what it’s like to be a student there. Virtual campus tours are a common approach to this challenge, and our data shows that more than 40 percent of users offer their contact information when prompted in a virtual tour.
There are many other digital wayfinding tools that are worth considering today. For example, London’s Gatwick Airport has launched an augmented reality system with arrows that appear on a smartphone, quickly and easily guiding the user from one point to another using an indoor positioning system. And I’m sure we’ll see more and more mixed reality applications of wayfinding and indoor positioning in the higher education setting soon. But the set of tools that are readily available today are more than enough to provide all stakeholders with a way to get the information they need – digital signage, digital maps, real-time data, and the ability to higher education professionals to make updates that reflect across campus.
Darby Gelhard, is an Enterprise Account Executive at Concept3D, a tech company that creates immersive experiences using interactive maps, 3D modeling and virtual tours.
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