Photo courtesy Vancouver Aquarium
The Vancouver Aquarium opened a new gallery earlier this year, featuring an array of video screens that extend its existing digital signage network, so as to better connect with the facility’s visitors.
The aquarium’s Arctic Gallery is using a customized digital communications system developed by Four Winds Interactive to manage screen content focusing on climate and territorial issues and information about Arctic animals and sea ice.
The gallery’s digital signage centrepiece is a 1.2-m (46-in.) touch screen that adds wayfinding functionality.
“That screen takes advantage of the ‘button’ structure that’s part of the Four Winds back end,” says Jeff Heywood, the aquarium’s content director. “It has an interactive map that’s tied to our central scheduling database. As the schedule updates, for example, visitors can see there is a show coming up soon in our Amazon Gallery; if they push the ‘map it’ button, they screen will show them the fastest route to get there, which is important since our building has lots of twists and turns. It also runs video that highlights future promotions or conservation programs. We use that one display to do a lot!”
Other additions include touch panels with Flash videos, a large plasma screen running 90-second environmental news segments and a live polar bear feed from Churchill, Man.
