More Wayfinder kiosks are popping up all over the Downtown area and two recently appeared at the 3rd Street and Santa Monica Blvd intersection, one on the northwestern corner and one on the southeastern corner.
At the time of going to press, 12 kiosks are currently operating in place and cleaned twice daily by Block By Block personnel.
Phase 1
4th Street & Wilshire Blvd – installed April 29
Pico Blvd & Ocean Ave – installed June 14
Arizona Ave & Ocean Ave – installed June 14
Santa Monica Blvd & Ocean Ave – installed June 21
Pico Blvd & Ocean Front Walk – installed June 21
Broadway & Ocean Ave – installed July 3
Phase 2
Broadway and 3rd St – installed August 8
Santa Monica Blvd & 3rd St (SE corner) – installed August 8
Santa Monica Blvd & 3rd St (NW Corner) – installed August 8
Arizona Ave & 3rd St (SE corner) – installed August 8
Arizona Ave & 3rd St (NE Corner) – installed August 8
Wilshire Blvd and 3rd St – installed August 8
And that fulfills rollout phases one and two. The next four displays that make up phase 3 will go operational in about a month.
Kiley Kmiec, Director of Business Development for BIG Outdoor, offers an insight into the analysis, "The key is to distinguish between ‘usage’ data and ‘user’ data. We do not collect any user data without consent of the user and in no cases are we selling data of any kind. We do collect ‘usage data’ to a certain extent (apps opened, time that kiosk is in interactive mode, etc) but none of that data tells us anything about the user. And none of it is considered ‘Personally Identifiable Information,’ which is the legal standard."
"The usage data helps us [and the City] be able to see where we can do better. Do certain tiles need to be brought higher up? Are some tiles not being used? What tiles are most popular? These are some of the questions we ask each other as we try to determine how these kiosks can best serve the Santa Monica residents, local Santa Monica businesses as well as tourists," Kmiec said.
According to a statement issued by the City of Santa Monica, over the course of the program, there have been over 15,000 interactions with the kiosks. "This is something we are extremely pleased with," Kmiec said.
To understand the methodology, it’s important to remember that the kiosks have had a staggered rollout. The sample data Kmiec provides is based on information collected from the following six sites: 4th St/Wilshire Blvd, Ocean Ave/Pico Blvd, Ocean Ave/Arizona Ave, Pico Blvd/Ocean Front Walk, Ocean Ave/Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean Ave/Broadway.
This information has been collected from the time frame of June 1 to August 5. That data set excludes 33 days from the 4th St/Wilshire Blvd site, together with any date after August 5. Moreover, it only includes 52 days for the Ocean Ave/Pico Blvd and Ocean Ave/Arizona Ave sites, 45 days for both the Pico Blvd/Ocean Front Walk and Ocean Ave/Santa Monica Blvd sites and 33 days for the Ocean Ave/Broadway location.
However, from that data, Kmiec said it has been possible to extrapolate the following information; the most used application is Transit, by a considerable margin, with Directions coming in second place, Arcade in third place, Events in fourth and the Photo Booth is fifth. Kmiec says that there have been a total of 10,966 interactions with these particular six kiosks during this time frame. (The remaining 4,034 interactions — the difference between that figure above and the 15,000 number provided by the City — come from different kiosk sites.)
While these figures are encouraging, when the Daily Press went to observe and ask passers by what their thoughts were on the recently erected kiosk at Santa Monica Blvd & 3rd St (NW Corner), no one seemed to realize that these monolithic monitors were actually interactive information outlets. Because the screens default to the advertisements that are digitally on display, many assume that they’re just elaborate, electronic billboards.
"You definitely need to do something to let people know that they can actually use this," said Drew, who was visiting from Miami.
"It’s like those displays you get in malls, yeah, I would never have known that," said Walter, who was visiting from New York.
"Nah, never would've thought to go up and actually touch it," said Tamsin, who was visiting from Western Australia.
"Nope, thought it was just another giant advertising space," said Rodney, a resident of Santa Monica.
"I’d just thought it was a billboard," said Sheldon, a resident of Santa Monica.
Over the course of two hours, during peak mid-afternoon foot traffic, on a Friday, absolutely no one interacted with this kiosk. However, it must be conceded that a 120 minute observational exercise is an extremely small sample size, but it still suggests that there might be a concern.
The words "TOUCH DISPLAY" are actually etched at the bottom of the black frame surrounding the display, but it’s difficult to see in the blindingly bright sunlight (moreover, wearing sunglasses doesn’t help), it’s below most people’s typical line of sight and finally, not everyone might realize what that means in this particular context.
In a statement to the Daily Press, the City of Santa Monica said, "We are pleased that the initial data suggests passersby are figuring it out so far … We plan to do additional outreach and education once the kiosks are all up and running."
And on Friday, August 16, the City of Santa Monica posted on X/Twitter and Instagram about the Wayfinder kiosks for the very first time.
When asked how Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) might modify the kiosks and/or the information displayed to better inform pedestrians of their potential, Andrew Thomas, CEO of DTSM responded, "The new digital directories being installed offer exceptional functionality. They will provide our visitors with an engaging and interactive way to navigate Downtown and discover everything we offer. I'm confident they'll find these tools incredibly helpful."
The City’s website illustrates the five-stage rollout plan and shows the location of each of 29 proposed sites with the 3rd Street Promenade being part of the second stage of rollouts. The next four displays that make up Stage 3 will go operational in about a month.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
