The first Wayfinder kiosk has been officially unveiled on the southeastern corner of the Wilshire Blvd and 4th Street intersection and as the foam padding was removed, it instantly attracted a small crowd of passers by.
The announcement that this would be the site for the first fully-functioning, full-scale product came as a little bit of a surprise just two weeks ago and was then delayed a few days, but now it’s up and running and is already proving popular.
According to officials, there is no cost to the City for the kiosk installation, rather the City will begin earning 50% of adjusted gross revenues as soon as the first kiosk goes live. A minimum annual guarantee of $5 million will become effective once all 25 kiosks in the first phase are operational.
“Initial advertising space is already sold out and we are optimistic that revenues will meet or exceed our expectations,” Lauren Howland, Communications & Public Information Manager for the City of Santa Monica told the Daily Press.
CREDIT: Scott Snowden
Officially known as the Digital Wayfinding and Out-of-Home Advertising Kiosk Program, the initiative was first conceived in early 2020. Once some issues over who was going to be awarded the contract were resolved, a fully functioning prototype designed and built by BIG Outdoor in collaboration with IKE Smart City was made available for local residents to inspect, examine and evaluate last June.
Within minutes of the monolithic display being activated, passing pedestrians stopped and explored the user interface, looking up local events happening this week, for example. Sporadic “ooo’s” and “ahh’s” could be heard throughout the time spent at the site.
“It’s been a while in the works and now the digital kiosks are here, which is great,” remarked Albin Gielicz, community relations consultant for this project who was on-scene for the inaugural activation. “I’m very much looking forward to working with all the community groups, non-profit organizations and businesses to ensure these become an invaluable resource for all residents, visitors and stakeholders in our city. A new era of information sharing has begun.”
Solar panels were considered early on in the design process, but the surface area was deemed too small to provide enough power. However, apparently none of the kiosks will use city power.
CREDIT: Matthew Hall
“All the kiosks [coming to] the Promenade will connect to the City power vault, but have a separate meter. The remaining kiosks will use either a power source constructed by BIG Outdoor or will be connected to private power at a nearby business or property,” Howland said.
“BIG Outdoor negotiated these agreements with the businesses/property owners, so the city was not involved and doesn’t have details. These private power deals will help minimize construction and disturbances to the public right-of-way and speed up installation,” she said.
The City’s website illustrates the five-stage rollout plan and shows the location of each of 29 proposed sites with the Third Street Promenade being part of this first wave of rollouts.
“The existing directories [on the Promenade] will be demolished and replaced with the new kiosks. It was a priority for us to reduce existing street clutter wherever possible when siting and installing the kiosks,” Howland said.
CREDIT: Scott Snowden
Very little, if anything at all, seems to have changed from the prototype test model. The device stands at approximately 8ft tall, with a 55-inch display and is made from what we’re reassured is incredibly durable materials along with an “anti-graffiti” coating that will ensure any tagging by a wannabe street artist can be very easily removed.
Howland reassures that the emergency button won’t be abused, saying, “The emergency phones function on VOIP (voice over internet protocol). It would be very difficult for someone to push the button on accident [sic].”
Regarding maintenance and inevitable repair, she says, “For the first few kiosks, BIG Outdoor has contracted with Block by Block to respond immediately to maintenance requests. Once they have 10-15 operational, BIG will have full-time maintenance staff in-house. All maintenance requests will go through BIG Outdoor. There is also a way to report maintenance issues on the kiosk itself.”