If your phone dies in downtown while you’re using GPS, the city’s got your back.
City commissioners approved a plan Aug. 5 to install up to 20 electronic wayfinding kiosks throughout downtown — at no upfront cost to the city. The city will be working with , a Columbus, Ohio, company, to set up and oversee the kiosks.
The kiosks will display directions, advertisements, city events and even public art. It’s the advertisements that will allow IKE Smart City as well as West Palm Beach to get a return on investment. The city expects to be paid $615,000 a year. That’s more than $9 million over 15 years.
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The kiosks have an optional setting to record audio and video. Users can use them to call the police. But it’s not Big Brother, said Anna Baerman, IKE’s senior development director. The audio is only recorded when the 911 call button is activated. The company does not retain the recording.
Not everyone is convinced the kiosks are a good idea. Transportation advocate Jim Kovalsky wonders if they’ll make life harder for pedestrians.
Kovalsky spent eight years driving for Circuit in downtown West Palm Beach and worked in the information technology business for 40 years. He’s a vocal supporter of Brightline and Tri-Rail.
If they are put where they are needed most, where crowds gather, often crowded by outdoor restaurant seating, he said the kiosks could get in the way.
“You could do it in front of City Hall, you could do the Great Lawn but then are they where people are going to see them? Or do you have to go search out the wayfinding?” Kovalsky said. “Because that really doesn’t work for wayfinding. If you got to find your way to wayfinders, they’re not doing their job.”
The contract calls for 20 kiosks, but the city doesn’t have to install them all at once.
Coral Gables started with five kiosks, IKE’s attorney, Harvey Oyer, told commissioners. But the kiosks drew so many advertisers, the city requested more, he said.
Miami’s IKE kiosks regularly feature new projects by local and international artists, with partnerships including the Wynwood Walls, Pérez Art Museum Miami and Miami-based Fringe Projects, an agency that commissions experimental public art, Oyer said.
Commissioners emphasized the financial boost the kiosks may deliver and liked the idea of communicating directly with downtown visitors.
The city expects the kiosks to be installed in early 2025, spokesperson Diane Papadakos said.
This story was originally published by , a WLRN News partner.
