A number of digital information screens are to go up in the streets of Durham City in order to make life more convenient for visitors and to help businesses.
The ‘digital totems’ are part of a project being run by Durham Business Improvement District (BID) to make Durham’s business sector more interactive. It is hoped that the screens will help visitors learn about Durham’s shops, services and restaurants and inform them of any special offers available.
The first digital information screen has already been set up in Millennium Square, in the Walkergate area. Durham Business Improvement District has plans to put up more of the screens on Elvet Bridge and in North Road.
Adam Deathe, BID’s business engagement manager, said, “They are fully interactive and link information to mobile phones so people who aren’t from around the city can find out more and not get lost.”
“We have really been trying to get businesses to engage digitally.”
“This is something Durham is leading the way with nationally. We have had a number of other cities approaching us to see what we are doing.”
This is not the first interactive digital project BID has been involved in. During the Christmas period, a free app was introduced with which people could hunt virtual festive characters in the streets of Durham then have their photographs taken with them.
BID also provides any business which is a BID member with their own updatable webpage.
BID says that it works “to support businesses within Durham City Centre through marketing and communication activities.”
As well as aiming “to attract local visitors” BID also “engages with people living within a 30-minute drive-time of the city, encouraging them to view the BID district as their service centre of choice, in turn increasing consumer footfall and therefore supporting the local economy.”
