Smart City Kiosks: a SMART Solution for Urban Planning and Development
If you are a government institution, a municipality or an agency involved in the planning and development of smart cities, you should definitely learn the benefits of smart city kiosks.
The purpose and benefits of these machines are already evident in the name – yes, SMART CITY.
This blog delves deep into these impeccable smart kiosk terminals covering their features, functionality, and benefits in pretty detail.
I’m sure, after reading this blog, you will have something valuable to share with your colleagues and superiors.
What are Smart City Kiosks?
In short, smart kiosks are automated public assistance platforms that are deployed in high footfall regions of cities like busy junctions, at transportation hubs, near places of tourism importance etc. These kiosk terminals are loaded with a plethora of features to assist and guide users to access city-specific information, or perform payment-related tasks.
As Part of the larger smart city project, the kiosk terminals focus on leveraging technology to enhance urban living by enhancing communication, convenience, and information access.
The kiosk terminal leverages technology to enhance the experience of travel and tourism through the integration of top-notch services and facilities that cater to the needs of tourists. The smart transportation ticketing and digital information facilities are integrated into the kiosk machine. The kiosk system also gives importance to the safety of tourists through AI-assisted smart video surveillance.
Smart city kiosks offer several people-friendly services like wayfinding, public transport timings, bill payments, emergency helps and support, Wi-Fi hotspot, etc. – all through a single interface or platform.
How Smart City Kiosks work?
The smart city kiosks are supposed to be deployed strategically at every location where people gather in large numbers. The city planners very well know where those locations are. Kiosk machines, when strategically deployed improve their accessibility to the users.
In fact, the users need not call an Uber to the kiosk machine!
The user simply needs to access the kiosk terminal, follow the instructions displayed on the touchscreen, select the desired service by a gentle tap on the screen, and perform the payment, if required.
Even an adolescent with basic smartphone experience can easily navigate a Smart kiosk, as they are meticulously designed from both hardware and software perspectives.
For those users who are new to the city, be it tourists, migrant workers, or other occasional visitors, they find it difficult to locate touchpoints that deliver legitimate and updated information. The smart kiosk terminal becomes a reliable and trusted “go-to machine” for the residents and tourists alike.
Moreover, the users need not wait in the long lines in front of physical information counters to access an information or make any specific transaction.
The smart city kiosk terminal not just perform information dissemination, they gather valuable data too. We shall go through the details, for sure!
Key Features of Smart City Kiosks
The Smart kiosks are feature-packed, designed to improve city living, information access, and offer fast and efficient services. The important features are furnished below.
Benefits of Smart City Kiosks
And the benefits are multidimensional. Let’s go through some of the important benefits.
1) Smart City Kiosks for urban development and planning
The kiosk machine is a treasure trove of valuable customer data. The kiosk machine helps city planning authorities and local bodies gather data-backed information regarding several aspects of the city.
2) Advertisement and business promotion
Apart from information dissemination and payment processing, the smart city kiosk offers excellent advertising opportunities for the local bodies. Various opportunities connected with city kiosk advertising are listed below.
In fact, the advertisers get complete control over the ad campaigns.
3) Smart city kiosks to promote tourism
The governments can make use of the kiosk machine as a one-stop tourism information and booking portal, and promote a plethora of services too.
Moreover, the visitors can make use of the wayfinding functionality of the kiosk terminal to figure out important landmarks and tourist destinations. The kiosk machine offers interactive maps and directions with utmost clarity and precision. The users get the bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the city and where. Doesn’t it sound interesting and thought-provoking?
4) Contactless payments
The smart kiosks are deployed in public settings and therefore have continuous access to the general public. The contactless payment facility of these kiosk machines offers a great deal of convenience to the users. Additionally, the facility reduces physical contact with the kiosk terminal, thereby ensuring hygiene standards.
5) Real-time kiosk management
The A to Z operations of the smart kiosk or the network of kiosks can be managed real-time by an admin from a remote location. And hence, there is no room for worries. The remote admin can manage the day-to-day operations of the kiosk machine, make necessary changes in minutes, deploy software updates and patches as and when needed, analyse the performance of the machine, etc.
6) Reduced carbon footprint
The city kiosk serves as a one-stop information access and payment portal for both residents and visitors. Hence, people can limit the use of vehicles to a significant extent, thereby reducing carbon footprint. Yes, deploying smart city kiosks is a step towards sustainable living too.
Conclusion
The smart kiosks are a “must have” for any cosmopolitan city like Dubai.
These smart machines play an important role in the urban development and planning initiatives. Their multifaceted benefits like improved connectivity, service-related utility, and information dissemination are highly impactful and rewarding as far as any city is concerned.
The kiosk provides data-backed information to local government authorities and city officials through genuine user engagement. The data can be stored and used as a valuable reference for future developmental or research activities.
Moreover, the easy-to use interface of these smart machines becomes instrumental in reducing the digital divide. The machine serves as a pivotal “connecting link” between the local government bodies and the end-users.
For any assistance regarding the implementation of smart city kiosks, please get in touch with Panashi’s customer experience team.