# Digital wayfinding signage on screens you own Running directional signage, floor guides, department directories and room names on screens, authored in portrait or landscape and changed centrally when a room or department moves. Source: https://channelos.tv/use-cases/wayfinding ## What runs it ChannelOS plays as a web page in the browser the screen already has: Android TV, Google TV, webOS, Fire TV, a Chromebox, or a laptop in kiosk mode on the HDMI port. There is also a native Android TV app, downloaded as an APK from channelos.tv rather than from Google Play. There is no media player box to buy and no per-device licence. ## What goes on the screen - **Directional boards with real arrows.** Arrows, floor numbers and department names set at a size that reads at distance. Every element is selectable, so a moved department is an edit rather than a reprint. - **Portrait, as a first-class shape.** A corridor screen is usually on its end. A show is authored in the aspect you choose, so a 9:16 board is designed as a column rather than a landscape board turned sideways. - **A directory that is current.** Who is on which floor, which room, which entrance. One board on a channel, so every screen showing the directory changes together. - **Temporary routes.** A corridor closed for works gets a date-scoped board that appears on those days and removes itself afterwards, with the normal directions resuming on their own. ## When ChannelOS is the wrong answer ChannelOS is not an interactive wayfinding system. It does not render a pannable map, it has no touch interaction model, no route-finding, no search-for-a-room and no accessible-route logic, and it does not integrate with a floor plan or CAD source. If what you need is a touchscreen kiosk where a visitor taps a destination and gets a route, buy an interactive wayfinding product. ChannelOS fits the static directional board and the floor directory: the things that are a sign, that have to be right, and that are currently printed because changing them is somebody's afternoon. ## Questions ### What is digital wayfinding signage? Digital wayfinding signage means putting directions, floor guides, department directories and room names on screens rather than on printed and framed signs. In ChannelOS the board is an editable show played by the browser inside the screen, so when a department moves floor you change the arrow and the room number on the board and every screen showing it updates within seconds, instead of reprinting and refitting signs. ### Can I run wayfinding screens in portrait? Yes, and most wayfinding screens should be. A show is authored at the aspect you pick, so a 9:16 board is laid out as a column of type and arrows rather than as a landscape board rotated, which is what makes rotated signage read badly. Screens on their end and screens on the wall can run from the same account. ### Is it an interactive map or a touchscreen kiosk? No. There is no pannable map, no route-finding, no room search and no touch interaction, and nothing reads a floor plan or CAD file. For a kiosk where a visitor taps a destination and is given a route, buy an interactive wayfinding product. ChannelOS covers the static directional board and the directory, which is the larger share of wayfinding signage in most buildings. ### How big does a corridor screen need to be? Far enough to read from where people are deciding which way to go, which in a long corridor is further than most people estimate. The practical rule is that the smallest text on the board wants to be about one hundredth of the viewing distance in height, so a decision point thirty feet away needs type much larger than a slide designed on a laptop looks like it should have. ### Can a temporary diversion be scheduled and then removed? Yes. A show sits on a channel's timeline with a date range, so a board for a corridor closed for two weeks of works runs for exactly those dates and the normal directions resume by themselves. Nobody has to take anything down, which is the step temporary printed signage reliably misses. ### What does a wayfinding screen cost to run? The first screen is free forever, with further screens billed per screen per month at the rates on the pricing page. Free screens carry a ChannelOS banner that opens into a full slide roughly every two minutes, which on a public directional board is normally a reason to be on a paid plan. There is no media player to buy and no per-device licence. ## Related - [Portrait screens](https://channelos.tv/blog/portrait-digital-signage-tv): Hanging a screen sideways, and designing for the shape rather than rotating a board. - [Screen size guide](https://channelos.tv/blog/digital-signage-size-guide): What size and what type height reads from a given distance. - [Healthcare signage](https://channelos.tv/industries/healthcare): Corridor directions, department boards and the rules about patient information. - [Campus signage](https://channelos.tv/industries/higher-education): Department corridors each running their own channel.