Stamford Downtown Unveils New, Solar-Powered Digital Kiosks

STAMFORD, CT — On any given day, there is a lot going on in Downtown Stamford, so the city decided to install five new solar-powered digital wayfinding kiosks to help residents stay informed and connected.

On Thursday, officials unveiled one of the 8-foot tall kiosks at Heritage Park, which is located at the intersection of Main Street and Bank Street.

The kiosks come from Soofa, a company that was founded in 2014 by women out of the MIT Media Lab.

"We've been working on this project for about a year. It's crucial to downtown," said Michael Moore, president of Stamford Downtown, during the brief unveiling event Thursday.

This is the first step in a pilot program, and something officials hope can be part of a larger wayfinding program for the city to promote destinations and disseminate important, hyperlocal information.

Moore pointed to the nearby Union Trust building, which will be redeveloped into a hotel, as well as the lot next to Curley's Diner, which will be turned into an extended stay hotel. He also mentioned an expansion of UConn-Stamford in the future.

"Main Street itself is going to be transformed. What does that mean? More residents, more corporate visitors... more students and staff. It's a very important time to promote wayfinding, connectivity, and the pedestrian-level environment," Moore said.

Besides Heritage Park, other kiosk locations include:

• Bedford Street (next to The Ferguson Library)
• Kiwanis Park (69 Atlantic St.)
• One Greyrock Place
• 677 Washington Blvd. (to be installed at a later date)

Content on the digital screen, which utilizes similar display technology on a Kindle, changes every six minutes, according to Soofa co-founder and Vice President Jutta Friedrichs.

The kiosk utilizes different widgets or apps to display information, ranging from local weather, the city's social media accounts, news feeds, and local transit information and train schedules.

"It's not some sort of anonymous lamp post or signage, but it's really leveraging smart technology to bring real-time, hyperlocal content onto the sidewalk. We're really pulling from different sources to make it easy for the city," Friedrichs said Thursday.

Miller said he sees the kiosks helping to push out information and updates on projects in the downtown area, as well as displaying information from local partners such as Mill River Park, the Palace Theatre, Avon Theatre, Ferguson Library and more.

"The cool thing is the city can give ownership of different widgets or apps to different departments and they can program content as well," Friedrichs added.

There is an interactive component to the kiosks; QR codes can be scanned by passers-by to bring up the display on their phones. Users can answer fun poll questions, or learn more about the information they're seeing in front of them.

"There are so many things I'm personally excited about and I know residents are going to love about these kiosks," said Mayor Caroline Simmons. "One, it's bringing cutting-edge, digital technology and real-time updates to residents so that we can showcase all the great things we love about downtown and destinations to go to, but it's also giving important public announcements and updates on things residents can enjoy."

Simmons said she hopes the initial five kiosks can be a model for the rest of the city.

"It's also a welcoming thing for people who are coming into our city to visit Stamford, and then I think the coolest part is that it's solar powered," Simmons added. "We're really fulfilling our sustainability goals, and we're seeing innovative, clean technology for our city."

Moore also said there will be an advertising component on the kiosks for downtown businesses.