This month, the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District (DID) and IKE Smart City deployed digital interactive, wayfinding kiosks called IKE (Interactive Kiosk Experience) designed to help residents and visitors navigate Downtown. Each kiosk serves as a free Wi-Fi hotspot and is geo-located, displaying informational listings based on what’s in immediate proximity to the kiosk.
The first five IKE kiosks went live along Nicollet Mall, offering advanced wayfinding capabilities through smart city technology. The kiosks have dual-sided digital touchscreens and are fully ADA-compliant, complete with an engaging suite of interactive applications that drive discovery of area businesses, promote diverse mobility solutions, and improve equity with 24/7 access to resources. IKE is multilingual and includes detailed content listings of Downtown restaurants, shops, businesses, cultural institutions, events, jobs, and civic resources. Additionally, the kiosks provide access to social services information such as food support, addiction recovery programs, and homeless shelters.
IKE’s advanced wayfinding features are designed to turn information into action. Using real-time, aggregated public transit data, IKE provides users access to easy-to-use multimodal trip-planning features to navigate from point A to point B via public transit, bike share, scooters, ride-hail, and walking. Such capabilities reinforce a commitment to sustainable, equitable, and accessible transportation services and resources.
IKE also serves as a widespread communication platform!
In addition to displaying commercial content, IKE allots space for community messaging and PSAs. IKE also disseminates critical public safety information in a highly visible way. Through a real-time feed from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the kiosks immediately display emergency messaging such as severe weather warnings, AMBER Alerts, active shooter events, fire warnings, and other information provided by over 1,000 authorities certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
IKE Smart City is dedicated to developing a media platform that supports the production and presentation of art and cultural activities in Minneapolis and looks forward to the opportunity to partner with local artists, cultural institutions, and non-profits to promote art, events, and programming unique to Minneapolis.
This state-of-the-art smart city technology is available to the public at no cost to Minneapolis DID, the City of Minneapolis, or its constituents.
This news clip from WCCO includes a demo of the system. Pretty slick!
Kim Eslinger
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