Often, I like to just post ideas I have about the industry. I read a book a while back entitled, “What if?” The book was essentially a list of enterpreneurial business ideas that should be done. Some of the ideas made me think, “why didn’t I think of that?” Interestingly, there is a lot of effort to protect intellectual property in any industry, especially in those industries where innovation creates leaps forward. Digital signage is one of those industries. And, like the author’s of “What if?” I don’t feel I have the time–nor will I–to work on every single idea I have.

GPS (Global Positioning System) and Digital Signage

I’m sure someone has already come up with some of these ideas in regards to this. In fact, I read a similar article advocated Digital Signage and GPS sometime ago. GPS has been implemented in some taxi digital signage networks.

The premise here is that in a traveling vehicle, the digital signage changes based on the area you are driving in. So, if you’re driving in a taxi downtown the digital signage will change as you move through the city and display ads based on the businesses you’re driving past. Pretty cool.

Mobile Phones and GPS

Here’s another integration that would be great. Let’s say you sign up for SMS text message alerts on your mobile phone and they’re powered by GPS. For instance, your shopping list for the week will pop up as a reminder every time you drive within a mile of the grocer.

You’re thereby more apt to enter the store to purchase your groceries for the week.

Digital Signage + GPS + Mobile

Now, here’s a great integration. When you get to the grocer, the digital signage network inside somehow recognizes you’ve arrived (possibly via the mobile device you’re carrying) and thereby displays ads based on your shopping list. For instance, it knows you need meat and cheese which are both on sale. It displays ads for meat and cheese, their sales prices and on which isles the items are located. This saves time and can be done in a way that is expected, non-intrusive and can be implemented fairly simply–espcially in areas where people habitually use the same stores to do their regular shopping.

Finally, I’ve only begun to skim the surface here on the possibilities. As I write this, I’m coming up with even more ideas. So, it remains to be seen how this will all be untapped. These are just some thoughts on how to do so.