App helps travelers fly through OIA easily
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More than 7,500 travelers have downloaded an app, unveiled at the end of the year, that helps them navigate Orlando International Airport.
Nearly 1,000 2-inch-square beacons are affixed to ceilings, pillars and overhangs throughout the airport. The battery-powered beacons act much like a GPS system, sending out a signal that can be picked up by iPhones or Android smartphones that have the free app called “Orlando MCO Airport.”
Once the phone and beacons start communicating, the app provides a map and instructions. A blue dot on the screen tells the travelers where they are and then directs them where to go.
The system, which cost $420,000, may be unique in airports, said John Newsome, Orlando International’s director of information technology.
“There is not another airport in the world that I am aware of that has such robust and comprehensive navigation features,” he said.
The app can direct users to 1,500 different places at the airport, ranging from restrooms, airline check-in counters and gates to restaurants and shops.
So far, users have given the app a thumbs–up, airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said.
Among those who took the time to write to the airport about the app were Mario Donoso, who on March 31, texted, “Excellent Excellent.”
A couple of weeks earlier, another traveler wrote, “Every airport needs an app. This makes navigating the airport so much easier, especially a large one like Orlando International. This place is huge, like a mall and the map is a real time saver.”
The app covers the 3 million square feet of public space spread across three levels of the airport’s main terminal and four airsides.
Joe Furnari, the airport’s manager of automation software, said even he uses the app because he works in a building offsite and often is asked for directions by travelers when he is in the main terminal.
“I pull up the app all the time,” he said.
Airport officials thought they might be able to use the app to track how quickly passengers move through lines run by the federal Transportation Security Administration but decided it was not accurate enough.
Instead, Newsome said, his staff is working on possibly combining some other technologies already in place, such as Wi-Fi and video cameras, to follow people going through TSA, whose officers check passengers for weapons and contraband.
“We don’t know what will work best,” said Newsome, who estimated a few months would pass before a solution is found.
Orlando International board members decided in March that getting travelers through security quickly would be one of the ways they would judge the effectiveness of the TSA. An airport committee studied the agency for more than two years before deciding to keep the officers in place and not replace them with privately hired guards.
Newsome said his department also is working on the redesign of the third-floor check- in counters in the main terminal. The long desktops eventually will be replaced with self-serve kiosks, where passengers can get their own boarding passes.
Also part of the redo will be the addition of bagchecking for passengers instead of having to go through interacting with airline personnel.
The backdrop of the area will change, too. Instead of a drab wall with an airline sign to designate where travelers should line up, there will be one long video screen, Newsome said. It will carry the airline logo, flight data and class of service, as well as video of special offers or destinations.
“It really gives the airlines more ability to brand,” he said, “and promote anywhere.”