“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 Municipality of Vrilissia (MoV), within the metropolitan region of Athens, Greece, was seeking ways to improve its communication with citizens by implementing a modern and direct approach and facilitating their active involvement in priority matters affecting everyday life in the local society.

A digital signage system emerged as an ideal solution to this problem, since the implementation of a network of monitors installed in public places provided an excellent channel for communication activities using engaging, multimedia messages. Such messages are planned to encourage citizens to adopt recycling policies, make more frequent use of public transportation, participate in environmental and cultural activities, etc. To communicate massively such messages in the past, printed brochures and sign posts were used, requiring a significant amount of time and cost for their production and installation. Furthermore, MoV wanted to establish a bidirectional channel with the citizens, running polls, measuring directly the public opinion on various subjects and delivering interactive information services.
 

CyberStream implemented a network of five Information Points, where citizens enjoy digital signage services, free wireless access to the Internet through WiFi HotSpots, as well as interactive applications, which are voice activated from a telephone or used through a web interface from laptops, PDAs, smartphones, etc.

Digital Signage
The MoV departments produce on a regular basis the content and determine the scheduling for the information to be displayed in central city locations where monitors are installed. The Cisco DMS family of products, in combination with DSplay, have been chosen for the implementation. This powerful foundation provides all required functionality for the management of the digital content library, the composition of the display layouts, the display scheduling, etc. The system is a model case of the ability for combined operation of Cisco’s Digital Media Manager and CyberStream’s DSplay server.

DSplay’s primary role is to support a number of information dissemination applications, such as:

• Periodic presentation of news and weather information
• Participation in polls of the public opinion, where the digital signage system is used to:
• Advertise the poll taking place
• Display the actual questionnaire
• Receive responses
• Display the results after each vote
• Search and retrieval for information using voice recognition and an IVR system
• Search and retrieval for information using QR-Codes and citizen mobile phones.

DSplay also implements an online connection to the Municipality Portal, thus creating a unified content management environment. In this way, every announcement inserted in the MoV website, appears on the digital signage system automatically. In every display location a Cisco LCD monitor is installed, accompanied by a Cisco DMP 4400 player.
 

WiFi HotSpots
A WiFi HotSpot has been developed at every location, offering free Internet access. Each location is connected to the central infrastructure through a VPN, thus securing the communication from external threats.

Mobile Applications
Users of mobile terminals benefit from the WiFi HotSpots not only by gaining access to the Internet, but also by acquiring the right to use additional online services, such as the submission of requests or complaints and the retrieval of information directly from the MoV portal, through an interface available via the display monitors. Monitors display content that is tagged by a dynamically produced QR code. A QR Code is a two dimensional barcode, that can be automatically scanned by a mobile phone or a PDA, routing the device browser to an appropriately formatted web page, without the need to type a URL address or other information.