iZone Secures Major Parks Deals with U.S. National Park Service and Alberta Parks

iZone, a leading custom high pressure laminate manufacturer based in Temple, TX recently announced that it has renewed multi-year contracts to provide park signage to two major national park networks – Alberta Parks, Canada, and the U.S. National Park Service. The contracts combined are expected to have a significant, long term revenue impact, and could be extended subsequently.

The U.S. National Park System comprises more than 84 million acres covering almost 400 parks in 50 states while the administration of Parks Division of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation spans over seven million acres in 500 sites. “iZone is pleased to continue our relationship with each of these prestigious park networks,” says Mike MacEachern, President/CEO iZone. “Millions of people visit these parks each year, and to be able to in some way contribute to the vision of these well- known and respected institutions is such an honor.”

Digital signage key to improving shipboard traffic flow

By Heather Clancy – The digital signage solution was one in more than a dozen applications intended to help manage the flow of people around the ship, manage crowds at venues, and encourage people to participate in more activities, said the cruise line’s CIO, Bill Martin.

There are approximately 100 monitors across the Oasis that offer an interactive view into daily schedules and that help passengers find their way around the massive vessels. While some information is still distributed on paper each day, the monitors help save money on printing cost because they enable the cruise line to more easily translate and offer information in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese, Martin said.

One of the most innovative applications used aboard Oasis is one that helps passengers figure out whether or not a specific restaurant or venue might have lines.

Shape-detecting cameras placed at entrances help keep track of entrances and exits, so that crowd and wait time information for the restaurants is updated dynamically and communicated throughout the ship on the information monitors.

The way the monitors were incorporated into walls and the ship design was also considered carefully. For example, the big 46-inch screens in the banks needed to be accessible to children and to passengers with accessibility challenges.