City of Berkeley, Visit Berkeley, and IKE Smart City Launch Innovative Digital Kiosks
The first of its kind in the City of Berkeley, IKE interactive kiosks will connect community and foster economic development within the City.
BERKELEY, CA. – The City of Berkeley, Visit Berkeley, and IKE Smart City unveiled the new digital interactive, wayfinding kiosks called IKE (Interactive Kiosk Experience) at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, December 13, 2021. Designed to help visitors and residents navigate the City, the partnership brings state-of-the-art smart city technology to the public at no cost to the City or its constituents.
The celebration commenced at the corner of Center Street and Oxford Street with remarks from Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Councilmember Kate Harrison, City staff, and other partners. The first round of kiosks will be deployed throughout Downtown Berkeley, the Telegraph area, and the Lorin Business District in South Berkeley, with plans to have an active network of up to 31 kiosks throughout the City. IKE is making its debut in California, with the City of Berkeley being the first city to implement the IKE kiosk platform in the state.
“As our commercial districts rebound from the pandemic, IKE Smart City kiosks will provide wayfinding and public information, and make our city and businesses more accessible to residents and businesses alike,” said Mayor Arreguín.
IKE puts innovative technology in commercial, pedestrian-oriented areas to offer advanced wayfinding capabilities through smart city technology. Each kiosk serves as a free Wi-Fi hotspot and is geo-located, displaying informational listings based on what’s in immediate proximity to the kiosk. The kiosks have dual-sided digital touchscreens and are fully ADA-compliant, complete with an engaging suite of interactive applications that drive discovery of area businesses, promote diverse mobility solutions, and improve equity with 24/7 access to resources. IKE is multilingual and includes detailed content listings of local area restaurants, shops, businesses, cultural institutions, events, jobs, and civic resources. Additionally, the kiosks provide access to social services information such as homeless shelters, addiction recovery programs, and food support.
“We are delighted to see this program going live. IKE’s smart kiosks are a wonderful resource for visitors and residents alike in finding information about merchants, resources, and events in Downtown Berkeley and throughout the city,” said John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association.
Barbara Hillman, Visit Berkeley CEO, said, “Our goal is that [visitors] will stay longer and patronize our merchants, and visit more often." IKE’s advanced wayfinding features are designed to turn information into action. Using real-time, aggregated public transit data, IKE provides users access to easy-to-use multimodal trip-planning features to navigate from point A to point B via public transit, bike share, scooters, ride-hail, and walking. Such capabilities reinforce the City’s commitment to sustainable, equitable, and accessible transportation services and resources.
With the launch of IKE in Berkeley, IKE Smart City is introducing its latest software innovation, an enhanced wayfinding and contactless solution, optimizing the IKE experience for all users. In collaboration with the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) and its Blind Users Innovating and Leading Design (BUILD) team, IKE has developed a proprietary solution, the Mobile IKE Experience, making the IKE wayfinding capability accessible to blind and low-vision users via their mobile devices. A braille plaque on the kiosk directs users to the Mobile IKE Experience that works with native accessibility features on users’ mobile devices. This comprehensive approach works collectively to offer an accessible and contactless wayfinding solution serving users throughout the community.
“We are thrilled to partner with the City of Berkeley and Visit Berkeley to bring IKE to this amazing community,” said Pete Scantland, CEO of IKE Smart City. “IKE Smart City is committed to ongoing innovation and celebrate the improvements made to the IKE experience driving discovery, mobility, and equity.”
IKE also enhances the City’s ability to connect with residents and visitors by serving as a widespread communication platform. In addition to displaying commercial content, IKE allots space for community messaging that is relevant to the City and local communities, while also disseminating critical public safety information in a highly visible way. Through a real-time feed from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the kiosks immediately display emergency messaging such as severe weather warnings, AMBER Alerts, active shooter events, fire warnings, and other information provided by over 1,000 authorities certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
IKE Smart City is dedicated to developing a media platform that supports the production and presentation of art and cultural activities in Berkeley and has formed a partnership with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) to promote the museum and its current exhibition, New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, which features 150 works by seventy-seven artists and collectives, including Kara Walker, Mickalene Thomas, and Farah Al Qasimi.
ABOUT IKE SMART CITY
IKE Smart City pioneers smart city technology to improve lives in cities. The company aims to develop and operate the premier interactive kiosk platform with the goal of building a wayfinding and city communication system for the digital age and delivering it in a self-sustaining business model at no cost to city partners. IKE kiosks help cities, business improvement districts, and destination marketing organizations connect with the public, encourage a pedestrian-oriented environment, and tell the story of their city. IKE is currently live in 10 other cities: Tampa, FL; Miami, FL; Coral Gables, FL; Denver, CO; Tempe, AZ; Cleveland, OH; St. Louis, MO; Baltimore, MD; San Antonio, TX; and Columbus, OH. For more information, visit ikesmartcity.com.
ABOUT CITY OF BERKELEY
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington. The eastern city limits coincide with the county line (bordering Contra Costa County) which generally follows the ridge line of the Berkeley Hills. Berkeley is located in northern Alameda County.
ABOUT VISIT BERKELEY
Visit Berkeley, formerly the Berkeley Convention & Visitors Bureau, is the destination marketing organization for Berkeley, CA and operates as a 501c(6) private, not for profit, mutual benefit corporation. Visit Berkeley is an assessment district and provides marketing, sales promotion and tourism attraction for the City.