Digital Signage at the Municipality of Vrilissia in Athens

1. CASE STUDY:
DIGITAL SIGNAGE AT THE MUNICIPALITY OF VRILISSIA
The Municipality of Vrilissia deployed a modern network of digital displays, through
which multimedia messages address and inform citizens. Interactive services for
information retrieval and online polls are also supported on the same platform.
THE CHALLENGE messages. Such messages are planned THE SOLUTION
The Municipality of Vrilissia (MoV), within the to encourage citizens to adopt recycling CyberStream implemented a network of
metropolitan region of Athens, Greece, was policies, make more frequent use of public five Information Points, where citizens
CASE STUDY / DIGITAL SIGNAGE / 2010 / GOV 01
seeking ways to improve its communication transportation, participate in environmental
enjoy digital signage services, free
with citizens by implementing a modern and and cultural activities, etc. To communicate
direct approach and facilitating their active massively such messages in the past, wireless access to the Internet through
involvement in priority matters affecting printed brochures and sign posts were WiFi HotSpots, as well as interactive
everyday life in the local society. used, requiring a significant amount of time applications, which are voice activated from
A digital signage system emerged as an and cost for their production and installation. a telephone or used through a web interface
ideal solution to this problem, since the Furthermore, MoV wanted to establish
from laptops, PDAs, smartphones, etc.
implementation of a network of monitors a bidirectional channel with the citizens,
installed in public places provided an running polls, measuring directly the public
excellent channel for communication opinion on various subjects and delivering
activities using engaging, multimedia interactive information services.

2. Digital Signage DSplay also implements an online
The MoV departments produce on a SOLUTION SUMMARY connection to the Municipality Portal,
regular basis the content and determine thus creating a unified content
the scheduling for the information to Digital Signage network at the MoV: management environment. In this way,
every announcement inserted in the
be displayed in central city locations • 5 points, in places with a large au- MoV website, appears on the digital
where monitors are installed. The Cisco signage system automatically. In every
dience
DMS family of products, in combination display location a Cisco LCD monitor
with DSplay, have been chosen for the • Wireless networking available at
is installed, accompanied by a Cisco
implementation. This powerful foundation every spot DMP 4400 player..
provides all required functionality for the • Implementation of a Virtual Private
management of the digital content library, WiFi HotSpots
Network (VPN over ADSL) A WiFi HotSpot has been developed
the composition of the display layouts, the
Applications: at every location, offering free Internet
display scheduling, etc. The system is a
access. Each location is connected to the
model case of the ability for combined • Information drawn automatically
central infrastructure through a VPN, thus
operation of Cisco’s Digital Media Manager from the city portal securing the communication from external
and CyberStream’s DSplay server. threats.
• Online news
DSplay’s primary role is to support a
number of information dissemination • Weather Mobile Applications
applications, such as: • Public Polls Users of mobile terminals benefit
• Periodic presentation of news and from the WiFi HotSpots not only by
• Online submission of citizen re-
gaining access to the Internet, but
weather information
quests also by acquiring the right to use
• Participation in polls of the public
Interaction devices: additional online services, such as the
opinion, where the digital signage system submission of requests or complaints
is used to: • Portable devices (PDAs, smart- and the retrieval of information
• Advertise the poll taking place phones), using QR Codes directly from the MoV portal, through
• Display the actual questionnaire an interface available via the display
• Web pages
• Receive responses monitors. Monitors display content
• Display the results after each vote • Telephone devices (IVR) that is tagged by a dynamically
• Search and retrieval for information Digital Signage products: produced QR code. A QR Code is a
two dimensional barcode, that can be
using voice recognition and an IVR • CyberStream DSPlay automatically scanned by a mobile
system phone or a PDA, routing the device
• Cisco LCD displays
• Search and retrieval for information browser to an appropriately formatted
using QR-Codes and citizen mobile • Cisco Media Player web page, without the need to type
phones. • Cisco Digital Media Manager a URL address or other information.
THE BENEFIT
By installing a network of displays bidirectional communication mechanism
in key city locations where citizens that has been developed maximizes
gather or move through, MoV has citizen participation in decision making,
implemented islands of direct and t h r o u g h o n l i n e p o l l s . F i n a l l y, t h e 19, Maiandrou str. 115 28, Athens
unrestricted communication with its availability of an integrated content Telephone : +30 210 7295770
citizens. This ensures the continuous management system between the digital +30 210 7297632
flow of information such as news, signage system and the MoV portal Fax : +30 210 7295769
announcements for scheduled events allows quick and effortless updating
and activities, promotion of public policies of the news and announcements that www.cyberstream.gr
and other initiatives. Furthermore, the appear on public screens.
w w w. c y b e r s t r e a m . g r / d s p l a y, i n f o @ c y b e r s t r e a m . g r