Digital kiosks and totems in Dubai: touch screen kiosks, wayfinding and freestanding displays

What a digital kiosk is, and what a totem is

A digital totem is a freestanding screen that people look at. A digital kiosk is a freestanding screen that people use. The totem shows adverts, information or directions and needs only a display and a media player. The kiosk has a touch screen, and often a printer, a scanner or a card reader, and runs an application that does something for the person in front of it.

The two words are used loosely, and suppliers call the same product a totem, a kiosk, a digital standee, a freestanding display or floor-standing digital signage. The difference that matters is whether it's touched.

Why the distinction matters:

• It changes the hardware. A touch screen has to be within reach, tougher, and fitted with a touch sensor suited to its size and place.
• It changes the budget. A totem is bought once. A kiosk has software, data and maintenance costs for as long as it runs.
• It changes who's responsible. Somebody has to own a kiosk's application and keep its information right.
• Many buyers ask for a kiosk and need a totem. If people only need to see the information, don't make them touch a screen to get it.

Related products: a larger outdoor structure with a fixed name sign and a screen is a pylon or totem sign, and a slim movable screen for a shop floor is an LED poster.

Types of kiosk and totem

Kiosks and totems fall into eight types by what they do: advertising totems, wayfinding kiosks, directories, information kiosks, self-service kiosks, queue kiosks, outdoor totems and LED totems. The job decides the screen, whether it's touch, and what's built in.

One kiosk maker's guide groups them in a similar way, into self-service, payment, wayfinding, information, interactive, digital signage and ticketing kiosks (MetroClick). We supply and install all of the types above.

Advertising totems

The simplest and most common. A portrait screen in a slim case, single or double-sided, running a playlist. Used by malls to sell advertising, by shops at their entrance, and by building owners in lobbies. Outdoors, the same idea is called a digital MUPI. See LED billboards and advertising screens.

Wayfinding kiosks

A touch map that shows people the route from where they're standing to where they want to go. It's the type most often underestimated, because the map and its data are a bigger job than the hardware. There's a full section below.

Directories

A list of who's where. In an office tower, a non-touch screen showing tenants by floor is often all that's needed, updated from the management office. Touch adds search, which helps once the list is too long for one screen.

Information kiosks

Opening hours, services, event schedules, forms. Useful in government service centres, hotels and museums. The risk is building a kiosk for information that people already have on their phones.

Self-service kiosks

Ordering food, checking in for an appointment, paying a bill, collecting a ticket. These carry extra devices and must integrate with your business systems. There's a section on them below.

Queue kiosks

A small touch screen and a ticket printer that issues numbers and feeds a calling display. A mature, standard product.

Outdoor and LED totems

Sealed, cooled and very bright. An LCD outdoor totem gives a sharp picture for people on foot. An LED totem is brighter still and copes with full sun, at a coarser resolution. Both are covered in the outdoor section.

Choosing the screen: size, orientation and brightness

Choose the screen from how close people stand. A totem read from several metres wants a large portrait screen, 55 inches or more, with its centre at eye level. A kiosk used at arm's length wants a smaller screen, 22 to 43 inches, set lower and often tilted back, because a big screen at touching distance is tiring to use.

• Portrait is the norm for totems. It matches the shape of a person, a poster and a phone, and takes less floor.
• A 55-inch portrait screen is about 69 cm wide and 122 cm tall. In a case, the totem stands about 1.9 to 2 metres high.
• Double-sided suits a totem in the middle of a concourse. Against a wall, one side is wasted.
• Commercial panels only. Rated for 16 or 24 hours a day and for portrait use. A television turned on its side overheats and isn't covered by its warranty.
• Brightness. A normal interior needs 350 to 500 nits. Near daylight, 700 or more. Facing out through glass or standing outdoors is a different class of screen.
• Full HD or 4K. For touch at arm's length, 4K shows on 43 inches and up, where people stand close enough to see pixels.
• Glass. Toughened front glass, with an anti-glare treatment where lights reflect. For touch screens, glass bonded to the panel gives a clearer picture and no gap to collect dust.
• Sound. Small speakers are standard. In most public places they're left off.

Touch technology: capacitive or infrared

Two touch technologies cover almost all kiosks. Projected capacitive, called PCAP, is the phone-style glass touch: accurate, flush and sealed. Infrared uses a frame of light beams around the screen and responds to anything that breaks them. PCAP suits screens up to about 43 inches and anything outdoors or wet. Infrared suits large screens on a budget.

The comparison is from a touch screen maker's guide (TouchWo).

What that means for a kiosk in Dubai:

• Self-service and information kiosks: PCAP. The sizes are small, the feel is familiar and the flat glass wipes clean.
• Wayfinding at 43 to 55 inches: PCAP where the budget allows, since pinch-and-zoom on a map is the main action.
• Large touch walls and tables, 65 inches and up: infrared is the practical choice.
• Outdoors: PCAP. Dust, rain and sun all count against infrared.
• Kitchens, workshops and gloved hands: infrared, or PCAP tuned for gloves.
• Touch on LED walls. An LED wall can be made interactive with an infrared frame or sensors, for large exhibition and showroom pieces. It's coarse touch for big gestures.

Hygiene and wear

Any shared touch screen needs regular cleaning with a product that's safe for its coating. Flat PCAP glass is the easiest to keep clean. Screens that are touched in the same place thousands of times a day, such as a "start" button, wear their coating there, so applications should move controls around or use the whole width.

Interactive walls and large touch displays

A large interactive display is a screen or video wall, 65 inches and up, that several people can touch at once. It's made in three ways: a big touch LCD, an LCD video wall with an infrared frame around it, or an LED wall with touch or motion sensing added. They suit showrooms, museums, sales centres and exhibition stands, where the display is the attraction.

• Large touch LCD, 65 to 98 inches. One panel, sharp at arm's length, with capacitive or infrared touch. The simplest option, and the right one for property sales centres, where people zoom into floor plans.
• Touch video wall. Several LCD panels in a grid with one infrared frame around the whole wall. Bigger than any single panel, with thin lines between the panels. Touch is accurate enough for maps and catalogues.
• Interactive LED wall. An LED wall with an infrared frame or a sensor bar. It has no joints and can be very large, but the picture is coarse up close, and people touching it are standing nearer than the pixel pitch suits. Use a fine pitch and a coated surface, since an exposed LED face isn't made to be pressed.
• Touch-free interaction. Cameras or depth sensors read gestures and movement, so people wave or walk to change the picture. It keeps hands off the screen and suits LED walls well.
• Interactive floors respond to footsteps. See flexible, curved and floor LED screens.

Two cautions apply to all of them. The content has to be built for interaction, which is a software project with its own budget. And a wall touched by the public all day needs cleaning daily and a surface that can take it. For non-touch walls, see LED video walls.

Height, reach and accessibility

Put everything a person has to touch between about 380 mm and 1,220 mm above the floor, so that a wheelchair user, a child and a tall adult can all reach it. Those are the reach limits in the American accessibility standard, which kiosk makers work to worldwide. The top of a tall screen can show information, but the buttons belong in the lower part.

A US kiosk maker's summary of the standard gives 48 inches as the maximum and 15 inches as the minimum height for a touch screen's operable area, with lower maximums where the user has to reach over an obstruction (Kiosk Group). In metric, that's about 1,220 mm and 380 mm.

Dubai has its own accessibility rules in the Dubai Universal Design Code, which apply to buildings and public spaces. Your architect or accessibility consultant will confirm what applies to a kiosk in your project. The American figures are a sound starting point for design.

What it means for the hardware:

• A 55-inch portrait touch screen is too tall to reach all of. With its bottom edge at 600 mm, its top is at about 1,820 mm. The application has to keep every control in the lower half. Many wayfinding kiosks put the map at the top and the keyboard and buttons at the bottom for this reason.
• An accessibility mode that moves all controls to the bottom of the screen at the press of one low button is good practice.
• Tilt helps everyone. A screen leaning back is easier on the wrist and readable from a seated position.
• Nothing in the way. A plinth or shelf that sticks out in front forces people to lean and shortens their reach.
• Protruding edges. A wall-mounted kiosk that sticks out at head height is a hazard for people with low vision. Freestanding units should reach the floor so a cane finds them.
• Text size and contrast. Large type, strong contrast, and Arabic and English available from the first screen.
• Sound and other aids. A headphone socket, audio prompts or a tactile keypad are needed for some public services. Ask what your sector requires.
• Children. In family venues, put the main controls low.

Digital wayfinding and directories

A digital wayfinding kiosk shows a map of the building, lets people search for a shop or department, and draws the route from the kiosk to the destination. The hardware is a touch screen in a case. The real work is the map, the data behind it and keeping both up to date, and that's where most wayfinding projects succeed or fail.

What a good system does

• Shows "you are here" correctly for each kiosk, with the map turned to face the way the person is facing.
• Searches by name, category and keyword, in Arabic and English.
• Draws a route, across floors, by lift, escalator or stairs, with an accessible route option.
• Gives a time or distance.
• Sends the route to a phone by QR code, so people can take it with them.
• Shows facilities: toilets, prayer rooms, parking zones, ATMs, exits.
• Promotes offers or events on part of the screen or when idle.
• Reports what people search for, which tells a mall what visitors can't find.

What it takes to build

• Floor plans drawn as clean vector maps, floor by floor.
• A data set of every destination: name in both languages, category, unit number, logo, opening hours.
• A network of paths through the building, so the software can work out routes.
• Kiosk positions and orientations, so each unit knows where it is.
• Brand styling to match the building's signs.

Who keeps it current

A mall changes tenants monthly. A hospital moves clinics. A wayfinding kiosk with last year's data sends people the wrong way, and people stop using it. Before you buy, decide:

• Who updates the data, and how quickly after a change.
• Whether updates are done in a simple editor by your own staff, or by the software company for a fee.
• How map changes are handled when walls move.

We build and install the kiosks and work with a wayfinding software partner who produces the maps, the application and the editor. You deal with us for the project, and we tell you plainly what the software will cost each year.

Where the kiosks go

• At decision points: entrances, lift lobbies, the top of escalators, junctions of concourses.
• Where people can stop without blocking the flow.
• Facing the direction of travel, visible from a distance, with a sign above saying what it is.
• Not too many. A few well-placed kiosks beat one at every corner.

When a static sign is better

A digital directory doesn't replace fixed signs. People follow overhead signs while walking, and use a kiosk only when lost. A building needs both, designed together. For a small building with a dozen tenants that rarely change, a printed directory is cheaper and never crashes. See wayfinding signs.

Self-service kiosks: what goes inside

A self-service kiosk is a touch screen, a computer and whichever devices the task needs: a receipt or ticket printer, a barcode or QR scanner, a card payment terminal, a camera or an ID reader. The enclosure is designed around those devices, and the application connects to your till, booking or queue system.

• The payment terminal isn't ours to choose. Card acceptance is arranged with your bank or payment company, who supply an approved unattended terminal. We design the enclosure to hold it and route its cables.
• The application is the product. A self-ordering kiosk is your menu, your prices and your till, on a screen. We bring in a software partner who integrates with your system, or build the enclosure for the software you've already chosen.
• Countertop, freestanding or wall-mounted. Countertop units suit small outlets. Freestanding units suit open floors. Wall-mounted units save space where there's a solid wall with power.
• Staff still matter. Somebody refills paper, helps people who are stuck and handles the exceptions.
• What's claimed for them. One kiosk maker says self-ordering kiosks raise average order values by 15 to 30%, without giving a source (MetroClick). Treat figures like that as sales claims. The dependable benefits are shorter queues and fewer order mistakes.

For menu screens above the counter, see digital menu boards.

Outdoor kiosks and totems

An outdoor kiosk or totem in Dubai needs a screen bright enough for the sun, an enclosure sealed against dust and rain, active cooling, and glass that survives heat and knocks. One guide gives 1,500 nits as the minimum brightness for outdoor kiosks and IP65 as the sealing standard. For a position in direct sun in Dubai, we'd specify 2,500 nits or more.

The 1,500-nit and IP65 figures are from an outdoor kiosk guide (YDH).

• Shade is worth more than brightness. A totem under a canopy or on the north side of a building runs cooler, lasts longer and reads better.
• Sun on a touch screen makes it hot to touch. In summer, an unshaded screen can be uncomfortable to use at midday. Shade any outdoor kiosk that people have to touch.
• Air-conditioned enclosures keep the electronics alive in direct sun. They cost more to buy and run, and their filters need cleaning.
• LCD or LED. An outdoor LCD totem is sharp and suits people standing within a few metres. An LED totem, at P2.5 to P4, is far brighter and handles full sun better, with a coarser picture. For advertising to passing traffic and across forecourts, LED. For maps and close reading, LCD.
• Foundations. A freestanding outdoor totem is bolted to a concrete base designed for wind, with power and data ducted underground.
• Permits. An outdoor advertising totem needs an advertising permit, applied for through Mada Media's platform, with the landowner's consent. See LED billboards and advertising screens.
• Maintenance. The same guide suggests allowing 10 to 20% of the purchase price a year for outdoor repairs and upkeep. Filters, seals and fans need regular attention in Dubai's dust.

For larger outdoor screens, see outdoor LED screens.

Enclosure, finish and branding

The enclosure is what people see and touch, and it's the part we make. We fabricate kiosk and totem enclosures in our own workshop in steel, aluminium and stainless steel, to your design and brand, and we also supply standard models where a ready-made unit does the job.

• Custom or standard. A standard totem is quicker and cheaper. A custom enclosure matches the building, holds exactly the devices you need, and can carry your logo as cut-out or lit lettering.
• Materials. Powder-coated steel for most indoor units, aluminium where weight matters, stainless steel for outdoor and coastal sites and for a premium finish.
• Finish. Any colour, matt or gloss, brushed or mirror stainless, with timber, stone or solid-surface panels where the interior calls for it.
• Branding. Printed or vinyl graphics, a lit logo panel above the screen, or a header sign saying "Information" or "Order here".
• Edges and corners. Rounded, with no sharp returns at child height.
• Service doors. Lockable, with access to the computer, the printer paper and the filters without dismantling anything.
• Ventilation. Vents low and high, with filters, sized for the heat inside.
• Cable entry from the floor, concealed.
• Stability. A base wide and heavy enough that the unit can't be pulled over, or fixing points to bolt it down.
• Matching the signs. We make the building's fixed signs too, so kiosks and signs can share materials, colours and typefaces.

Placement, power, data and fixing

A kiosk or totem needs a position people can see and reach, a power socket, a data connection and a way of staying upright. In a finished building, power and data in the middle of a floor are the hard part, so choose positions early.

• Freestanding stability. A tall, narrow totem is top-heavy. In public areas we bolt it to the floor. Where drilling isn't allowed, the base is made wide and weighted.
• Floor boxes. In a new fit-out, ask for a floor box with power and data at each kiosk position. Afterwards, it means cutting the floor or accepting a position near a wall or column.
• Fire exits and routes. Don't narrow an escape route or block a fire hose reel, a call point or an exit sign.
• Security. Lockable doors, concealed fixings, and for self-service kiosks a position in sight of staff or cameras.
• Movable totems. Units on hidden castors suit exhibition halls and events. They still need a socket.
• Queues. A self-ordering kiosk generates a queue. Plan where it forms.

Software and content

A totem runs digital signage software: a playlist, a schedule and remote updates. A kiosk runs an application built for its task, kept in a locked-down mode so that users can't reach the operating system. Both need monitoring, so that someone knows when a unit is offline before a visitor finds a blank screen.

• Totems. The same software as any screen network. Content made in portrait, at the screen's resolution, with large type. See digital signage for how networks are managed.
• Kiosks. The application is supplied by our software partner or by your own provider. We make sure the hardware suits it.
• Kiosk mode. The computer starts straight into the application, restarts it if it crashes, and blocks access to anything else.
• Idle screen. When nobody's using it, the kiosk shows an invitation to touch, and can show adverts. It must return to the start after a period of inactivity, so the next person doesn't inherit someone else's session.
• Privacy. A kiosk that takes names, phone numbers or payment details must clear them after each session, and the data has to be handled under the UAE's data protection law. Your software provider should explain how.
• Languages. Arabic and English from the first screen, with right-to-left layouts done properly, not mirrored as an afterthought.
• Remote monitoring of whether each unit is on, connected and running, with paper and fault alerts for self-service units.
• Analytics. How often each kiosk is used and what for. If one is never touched, it's in the wrong place.
• Content design. We design totem content and kiosk screen graphics to match your brand.

What kiosks and totems cost

A kiosk's price is the hardware plus the software, and for touch kiosks the software can cost as much as the hardware over a few years. Published overseas prices give a sense of scale: indoor self-ordering kiosk hardware at about US$2,000 to $3,000, outdoor kiosks from about $2,000 to over $10,000, and kiosk software at about $50 to $200 a month.

The figures are from a US menu and kiosk supplier (Howard Company) and an outdoor kiosk guide (YDH). They're American and factory prices, and a custom-built unit installed in Dubai costs more. Our own guide prices:

What moves the price

• Touch or not.
• Screen size and brightness. Outdoor screens cost several times an indoor one.
• Enclosure. Standard, or custom-built with special finishes.
• Devices. Printer, scanner, camera, payment terminal mounting.
• Software. The application, the maps, integration with your systems, and the yearly licence.
• Quantity. A run of ten identical units costs far less each than one.
• Site work. Floor boxes, foundations, cabling.

Budget for the years after

• Software licences and support, every year.
• Data updates for wayfinding and directories.
• Consumables. Paper rolls.
• Maintenance. Cleaning, filters, and the occasional screen or computer.
• Content for advertising totems.

Ask for these as yearly figures alongside the purchase price. A kiosk that's cheap to buy and expensive to keep running is a common regret.

Maintenance

A kiosk in public use is touched, leaned on and bumped all day, so it needs more attention than a screen on a wall. Plan for daily cleaning, regular checks and a named person who gets the alert when one stops working.

• Clean the screen daily with a soft cloth and an approved cleaner. No abrasive pads or strong solvents.
• Check weekly that every unit starts, responds to touch and prints.
• Refill paper before it runs out. Use the alert.
• Clean filters and vents monthly, more often outdoors.
• Recalibrate touch if it drifts.
• Update software in quiet hours, and test afterwards.
• Inspect fixings and doors twice a year.
• Keep a spare computer or screen for a fleet of kiosks.
• Warranty. Our units carry a 1-year warranty, and we offer maintenance contracts afterwards.

Mistakes to avoid

Most kiosk projects that fail were hardware bought before the job was defined.

1. Buying touch kiosks for information people only need to see.
2. Controls placed too high to reach.
3. A big touch screen at arm's length, where a smaller one would be easier.
4. Wayfinding hardware with no budget for maps and data.
5. Nobody responsible for updating the directory.
6. A television turned on its side inside a case.
7. An indoor totem placed in a sunny entrance or outdoors.
8. Infrared touch outdoors.
9. No power or data where the kiosk needs to stand.
10. A freestanding unit not fixed down.
11. No monitoring, so a dead kiosk goes unnoticed for days.
12. Yearly software costs left out of the budget.

How we deliver a kiosk project

A kiosk project starts with what people need to do, then the hardware follows.

1. Brief and survey. What the unit is for, who uses it, where it stands, and what power, data and fixing are available.
2. Design. A drawing of the enclosure with screen height, reach zone, devices and finishes, the software approach, and a price that separates purchase from yearly costs.
3. Prototype. For a custom design or a large order, one unit is built and tried before the rest.
4. Fabrication. Enclosures built in our workshop, with screens and devices fitted and tested.
5. Installation. Fixed, connected, application loaded and tested on site.
6. Handover. Staff trained, monitoring running, keys and documents handed over, warranty started.

Lead time is typically 3–6 weeks from order, longer for custom enclosures and wayfinding maps.