Giving the public x-ray vision: Digital innovation and wayfinding

in Lancaster City Centre

A collaboration between Highwire Doctoral Training Centre at

Lancaster University, & Lancaster City Council

Miriam Sturdee

Identifying the issues:

Public thoroughfares / routes through the city centre are not

always clear

The ‘physical’ space does not match the ‘digital space’

Poor / outdated signposting

!

Low footfall to prime tourist areas such as St George’s Quay

!

Barriers caused by building developments and traffic flow

Other considerations:

Multiple council-led projects overlap and operate

independently - no ‘roadmap’ of how they interlink

Transient stage for the council in terms of planning and

branding

Perceived low levels of engagement from ‘native’

Lancastrians ‘seen it all already’

!

Low relative budget for new signage - funding part of a wider

regeneration project

!

‘Visibility’ of areas from a perspective on the ground is limited

Previous work

Lucid Lancaster investigation set the stage for increasing

legibility in the city

Identified areas of improvement, perceived steepness,

barrier of China Street

Identified importance of visibility of the horizon in orientation

in unfamiliar places

!

Interested in creating a cohesive strategy with multiple

local groups

!

Current digital projects

Pivotpan - Augmented Reality itineraries, mapping the

pedestrian areas of the city and the inside of local business

and tourist sites

World Around Me - Augmented Reality business-finding app

PROUD working group / Beyond The Castle - Co-Design

!

Google Maps - creation of a Heritage Map / personalised

Four stage approach

Bring together council/local groups via digital means to

establish clear game plan and bring strength in numbers, as

well as diversity of ideas

Create a novel ‘physical’ signage system to engage locals

and visitors alike and reach out to non-smart phone users

Create an app with which smartphone users can orientate

themselves within the city centre and tourist sites

!

Devise a symbol/icon with which areas of interest and extra

content (digital) can be pinpointed, linking to proposed

branding activity and bringing together different groups

NESTING OF LANCASTER CITY COUNCIL

PROJECTS AND PARTNERS

INTEGRATED APP AND

DIGITAL/PROJECTED SIGNAGE SYSTEM:

PROPOSED BENEFICIARIES AND PARTNERS

BRANDING

SQUARE ROOTS

BUISNESS IMPROVEMENT

DISTRICT (BID)

LANCASTER

UNIVERSITY

(CATALYST

/HIGHWIRE)

CONSULTANTS

& PARTNERS

(INFOTECH/

PIVOTPAN/

CAIRN CONSULTING/

LANCASTER ARTS CITY)

QUAY

CONNECTIONS

BEYOND THE CASTLE

SECRET

GARDENS

CAMPUS

IN THE

CITY

LIGHT

UP

LANCASTER

LANCASTER

VISION

2020

1. Lancaster

City Council

Projects &

Partners

(Initial Draft)

1. A digital solution?

Hosting on council website difficult - i.e. bandwidth, CMS

support, autonomy

Forum based platform?

Using ‘tags’ to highlight relevant content to groups working

on different parts of the whole

Creating a ‘living’ neural network of connections in real time

1. A physical solution?

0.5 FT Projects Officer to track and map multiple council led /

involved projects and ensure working to one common goal

Volunteer project officers from each working group - working

3 month rotations

Funding…

2. Where am I?

Lancaster

2014

Lancaster

1824

Wouldn’t it

be helpful if

we could

see through

walls?

2. Opportunities for innovation

Seeing beyond the bricks and mortar

- what lies beneath/behind?

Accidental

Iconography

Potential for projection

Making

sense of

‘dead ends’

2. X-ray specs Merging the digital with the physical

Icons

signposting

digital world?

The story

continues…

Using existing structures

2. Projections Prototyping #1

Extended bracket from

wall creating angle for

4000-6500 lumens

architectural projector

1

2

3

4

Specialist screen paint to

create large scale outdoor

projection surface

Bollard connected

to projector

allowing visitors to

select which depth

they wish to see to

Lancaster

‘walking cat’

icon to indicate

interactivity

and city quarter

2. Projections Prototyping #2

1

2

3

4

1. China Street

Google view

2. Lancaster

Castle Google

view

3. China Street

Sketch view (with

map)

4. Lancaster

Castle Sketch

view (with map)

2. Projections Prototyping #3

1

2

3

4

1. China Street

Google view

2. Lancaster

Castle Google

view

3. China Street

Sketch view (with

map)

4. Lancaster

Castle Sketch

view (with map)

1

2

3

4

1. China Street

Google view

2. Lancaster

Castle Google

view

3. China Street

Sketch view (with

map)

4. Lancaster

Castle Sketch

view (with map)

2. Projections Prototyping #4

2. Evaluation

Logistics - crime / cost / daylight projection limitations?

Opportunities to crowd-source photo data - public ownership

!

Publicity for the city

Could be used by other groups - e.g. local business, arts

(Light Up Lancaster), theatre, school/college projects

Idea could be developed to see ‘under’ castle to Roman site

or through walls into ‘secret’ gardens / businesses

(advertising potential)

3. Digital versioning

Limited sites for projections?

Smartphone proliferation

!

Augmented Reality - overlaying digital onto physical space in

real time

3. App Prototyping #1

3. App Prototyping #2

3. Evaluation

Can link to existing Google Maps database / business

location AR apps

Portable X-ray vision

!

Uses other than way finding possible - heritage / storytelling

3. Thoughts on Apps VS Projectors

Development costs VS Equipment costs

Daylight projection - £4000 bulb - BUT, relatively low crime in

Lancaster, longevity possible

Combination approach?

Visibility around the city for visitors and residents is important,

but so is the INSIDE of the city and its people / projects

Funding available - digital high street / lottery / others?

4. An icon for Lancaster

The city can be divided into areas / quarters

Link everything with an emblem - witch = limiting

!

Physical icon can be painted onto walls to assist way finding,

show areas of interest, treasure hunt for children

Business buy-in e.g. coffee quarter, stickers in window, icon

indicates presence of digital content

(website / historical interest / Google Maps content)

Can tie in to the overarching Lancaster City ‘brand’

Iconographic

signposts to

content

Creating a sub-brand for

signage based on

Lancaster’s heritage -

witch already in use…

familiar?

4. Evaluation

Cats are natural explorers and curious - ties in with

Pendle Witches but more subtle

!

Easily recognisable, non-intrusive

Smartphones can ‘recognise’ shapes

(like facial recognition)

Could be used across all council led projects

Thank you!