A lot of people in the digital signage industry often forget that there are more used for digital out of home media than just advertising. Obviously advertising was one of the foundations for this burgeoning industry and is still a large part of the digital signage industry.
However, more and more alternative uses for digital signage are springing up all the time and many of them have important and potentially life saving applications.
Because of it’s flexibility in being able to display content uploaded centrally on a networks, really important information is being able to be relayed to the public, particluarly in outdoor areas where outdoor digital signage is providing some useful services:
Wanted criminals
One useful application that law enforcers are beginning to use digital signage is in displaying pictures of wanted criminals. The great advantage of digital signage is that the traditional mugshot can be beamed onto screens across cities, counties and even states. Traditionally police forces have had to rely on TV and print media for this kind of appeal but with digital signage there is no need to only rely on those that have read the paper that morning or seen the TV news as anybody passing the digital signage screen will be able to see the wanted images.
Missing children
When children go missing, swift and speedy appeals for help are vital. The quicker a picture of a child and appeal goes live the higher chance the child will be discovered. Whether it’s a runaway or an abducted child, speed of appeal is of the essence and with digital signage, especially outdoor digital signage there is no need to wait for the local paper to go to print or the local news to start its bulletin.
Emergency messaging
Following some high profile gun related incidents at American colleges, universities and even military barracks, criticism has often been centred on the lack of information of what has and is occurring on the campus or military grounds. Warning those that use the site that there is a potential danger could have save lives and digital signage has been indicated as being an effective method of warning of such incidents.
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