Already since beginning of the Multimedia age kiosk terminals were again and again used in the range of the city information, the tourism, for leisure facilities and in museums, in order to provide tourists and citizens with information around the clock via kiosk systems. Thus for example independently of store opening times available hotel rooms can be found, public event calendars can be called up and actual messages can be read. The most frequently offered information is leisure offers, references to restaurants, objects of interest and hotel listings, city maps, urban history, local suppliers, event references and current urban information. As a target group native ones and tourists are equally addressed. Not always however such city information systems have been successful – due to some studies. That happene often also because of the different operator structures, like city administrations, tourism companies, agencies, publishing houses, marketing and advertising companies, which pursued often opposite goals. In many cases such terminals remained at least in Germany also due to the financial need of the cities and municipalities only „electronic advertising pillars with alibi functions“.

End of the 90's the Institute for Marketing and Retail of the University Goettingen examined a multiplicity of kiosk-based city information systems. It was stated that the city information system of the City of Leipzig used in deed a very modern technology, but was not used at all by prospective customers due to unfavorable placements. The city information system of the City of Bremen against that was characterised by a high utilizable value orientation; on approx. 2,000 pages with ten applications of data bases (like physician lists, timetables) there was rich information to objects of interest, events, restaurants, hotels, weather as well as road maps. Each of the electronic advertising pillars „Elit“ was connected via ISDN with a central computer, which provided for fast data exchange and above all high topicality. Besides that „Elit” was already at that time developed as barrier-free terminal for handicapped persons and wheelchair users.

A very original terminal became set uo in Vienna already in the year 1991 with the city information systems “Tip?!Tap” both as indoor and outdoor version. It contained its own electronic city newspaper with direct information from organizers, companies and authorities. A speciality was the „Tip?!Tap-Club“, which both indicated the hint of the day as well as calculated the personal bio rhythm. The terminal obtained thereby acceptance rates between 70 and 98 per cent.

Among the pioneers of the city information systems undoutably also ranked “K-Point” of the Verlag Hans Müller GmbH & Co in Nüremberg. The “K-Point (contact and point of communication)“ combined several kiosk activities, e.g. it was a city information system, a shopping/e-commerce-system, a consulting system as well as an electronic post office. It should be financed over advertisement, to which up to 12 premium advertisment buttons were available – however advertisement via kiosk terminals was over many years and particularly towards the end of the 90's still another very much dared enterprise, so that also the “K-Points” could not become a success.

An interesting kiosk solution for the presentation of regional information inclusive Internet browser, email, telephone and payment functions was inserted end of the 90's in Thuringia by the Public Utilities in Meiningen (6 terminals) and in Pößneck (20 kiosk terminals). Its specialty was a simple operation particularly for older and/or persons not yet used in handling computers. The central unit of the terminal application was the „Regional Information System (RIS)“- it consisted of the sectors experiencing, buying, eating, drinking, staying overnight as well as services, health, beauty, fitness, public administration as well as emergency services and police. Via the "Software Telephone" it was possible with the help of the money card (GeldKarte) to phone as with a usual telephone and via the Internet browser to surf in the Internet. In order to make regional data available also outside of these terminals, the RIS was supplemented by a Web application, whereby the functionality and graphical user interface were adapted to the application of kiosks, so that identity and recognizing remained protected also in the Internet.

In the City of Ludwigsburg four „InteractiveCity “kiosk terminals has been deployed in the year 2004/05 as city information systems, tourist guides as well as professional advertising medium, at those citizens and tourist could call up information around hotels, events and restaurants. The following services are at the disposal to the citizens and tourists: events in and around Ludwigsburg, objects of interest, museums, theatre, exhibitions and concerts, restaurants and overnight accomodations, all offices and public administrations, cinema programs, timetable information, digital city plan and way guidance, ticker with the most current news. Further functions as photo eCard, print function, payment system/card reader are planned in connection with the City-Card. The telephone box similar terminals have besides at the back and both sides three TFT displays, on which enterprises of all industries - above all retailers in Ludwigsburg - have the possibility to book targeted advertisement on the terminals, too. The “InteractiveCity“ terminals have considerable access rates, e.g. the contents sides about actual movies are queried on the average approximately 9.000 times per month.

In Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and other cities in the USA there are already in taxis so-called „Interactive Taxi Kiosks”, at which the passengers can call up information about restaurants, objects of interest, news, sport information, weather forecasts. Soon the „Taxi Kiosks“ also will be equipped with card reader, so that customers can order and pay tickets with their credit card.

One of the most well-known tourist information systems was „Multimedia Graubünden“ at the motorway restaurant „Heidiland “ near Maienfeld/Fläsch, which had been deployed for tourists and businessmen already in July 1990 by the Tourist Association Graubünden (VVGR). The special at this tourism information system was that it should make fun for the users. For this purpose the capricorn „Conradin “ - a guidance figure as known from the comics and adapted from the popular picture books’ design of the native artist Alois Carigiet - ked the visitor with saucy sayings in “Schwyzerdütsch” through the system and helped him among others with the search for accommodations, objects of interest, tps for vacation, event references, traffic information as well as snow reports. Thus he could be able to look at the walking ways around Lenzerheide or examine the rooms of a hotel in Davos: if the offer pleased him, it needed to take off only the telephone receiver to be automatically connected by telephone with the desired hotel or holidays place. Conradin emerged everywhere in the expiration of application, helped during the operation of the system and deliciously amused the users with its fun. Above all there was children, who were attracted of Conradin. They then drew the attention of their parents to Conradin, so that annually about 100,000 visitors got information from the system. Most frequently guides to localities and accommodations were called up, closely followed of road and snow runway status reports.

At the beginning of 1994 at the German-Belgian border in the Belgian City of Kelmis tourist information systems have been deployed, which had been financed by the Society for the Development of Tourist Information (CDIT) in Brussels, the Traffic Department of the East Cantons as well as the European Commission with 1,8 millions Deutsch Mark. They should supply not only information about the 32 places of the region between Kelmis, Lontzen, Welkenraedt and Clermont-Thimister to the tourists in pictures and audio, but by the networking with the Belgian VTX teletext system continuously point out current information about available rooms in 59 hotels, events, weather conditions, opening times of the museums, pictures, maps and route proposals for walking tours. The special was besides that the visitor could pay booked hotel rooms or event tickets over the attached credit card reader directly at the terminal.

The information terminals had the large disadvantage at that time however that the information and diagrams construct themselves still very, very slowly and were often also out of operation, because still no remote management system existed. And only few deployers examined the acceptance or problem fields of the installed terminals. The Salzburger Land Tourismus Gesellschaft dared this step nevertheless and tested the effectiveness of the “Salzburg Electronic Product and Program Information system (SEPPI)“. SEPPI contained information about worth seeing, trip and purchase possibilities, traffic facilities, culture, hotels as well as eating and drinking. 31 per cent of asked tourists looked rather purposefully for these terminals in the city, in order to be able to inform over leisure offers in and around Salzburg. For the developers of SEPPI therefore it was important to make clear for the Salzburg visitors by the signature „information” what they could expect at the terminal. Also by the housing design it had been tried to reduce inhibition threshold by having decided for a L-shaped corpus from warm material such as wood. Besides the feeling should be arranged for the visitor to understand the system and not stand before a charm box. The consequence was that 72 per cent judged radiant emittance desired of the design with „very well“ to „well“ and even 85 per cent the user-friendliness with „very well“ to „well“.

One of the most well-known tourist information systems are the “Alamo's Fun Finder Kiosks with Alamo Rent A Car. „Alamo's Fun Finder Kiosk“ is an integral part of the Alamo Travel Center and provides information, services, advertisement and promotion as well as incentives for popular events and services within the target area: e.g. view and print of way descriptions inclusive maps, search from a broad selection from restaurants sorted by “ type of kitchen” as from more American over continental, Latin American to Asian kitchen, local weather forecast for the current day and the next 5 days as well as view of a large number of incentives / reductions and discount coupons for journeys, meals, overnight accomodation.

The National Geographic Society deployed so-called „Map Selling kiosk terminals” first in San Francisco and in Denver in order to give tourists, anglers, ramblers, drivers the possibility - as at the Alamo Fun Finder Kiosks – for printing individual maps from a pool of over 50.000 maps of the U.S. Geological Survey against an appropriate fee.

Tourists, who would like themselves to inform in Pennsylvannia about objects of interest, hotels, restaurants and events, can do this on „TravelTouch“ kiosk terminals, which had been initiated by Pennsylvannia's Government for the promotion of the tourism. Instead of producing long lists and overviews, they indicate maps with descriptions of ways to the looked for goals, supported by videos, audio clips and links to their website. An attached telephone connects automatically with the hotel or restaurant.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) set up in January 2004 “TDOT GoSmart” kiosk terminals in order to give to tourists always actual information about road conditions, road blockages, weather forecasts, inundations as well as further important information. The special is that the information can be updated at least three to four times or more frequently on the day and be shown at the same time on four screens. In emergencies even all four screens with the same message can be radiated, as e.g. with the search for missed children of the Amber Alert system.

Similarly as the US cities New York, Phoenix, Washington, Portland and Cambridge now also Chicago has started a “Traveler Resource and Itenary Planning System (TRIPS)“ in August 2004 at the airport, railway stations, in shopping centres and other places in the city in order to help tourists finding their ways rightfully within Chciago. This project has been conducted by the Metropolitan Planning Council, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. The substantial goal of TRIPS is it to promote the tourism by the fact that visitors will be pointed out the way with public means of transport to objects of interest, hotels or restaurants as simply as only possible.

Mobile Bay in Alabama is annually visited of more than 2 million guests and crystallized than as an ideal starting point for cruises. Thus annually more than 100,000 visitors pass the brand-new Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal. In order to motivate now the visitors to make vacation next time also in Mobile Bay, the Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau has deployed a kiosk terminal within the waiting area of the Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal, which brings them more near the beautifulnesses of Mobile Bay. A screen additionally attached over the kiosk terminal shows videos about Mobile Bay's attractions. If a visitor at the kiosk terminal liked himself to inform in more detail, he is asked to fill out a small registration form so that one can send him afterwards more information.

Since August 2001 the Wild Rivers Waterpark in Irvine, Calif. is the first recreational park, which set up kiosk terminals, which ensure that nobody is lost. If parents from children or guests within a group of visitors have been lost and/or seperated - and that happens according to studies with approx. 27 per cent of the visitors, these terminals help them to locate on an electronic map of the park the place, where in the park the children or the other group members are. Therefore when entering the park visitors receive a coded bracelet, which they have to scan at the „Location Station“ kiosk, in order to find out, where the remainder of the group or the lost children in the park do stay. In the meantime the tech¬no¬logy has been converted to RFID. Furthermore these kiosk terminals offer additional functions like a message board, in which visitors can leave messages for other group members or in addition the park’s supervisor can send a message to the visitors. It is also possible to do purchases by transfer and pay them only at the checkout or to offer individual bonus programs and special discounts for less used attractions. Such kiosk¬ terminals do exist already among other also in the Wet´n Wild Water Parks in Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, in the Dolly Splash County Water Adventure Park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in the in¬door children entertainment park Wannado City in Fort Lau¬der¬da¬le, Flo¬ri¬da, in the Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort in Columbus, Ohio as well as in the Steamboat Ski & Resort in Steamboat Springs.

Fantastic experience worlds expect the visitors in Germany’s largest recreational park, the Europa Park Rust. Starting from the season 2001 each visitor can buy a memory photo after the trip with an attraction and send these pictures by „cardcam“ - terminals connected to the Rideshooting photo system also as e-card to friends and relatives. This increased the attractiveness of the memory photos and secured so the return of investment. Such an experience arrangesstill more impressive Para¬mount’s Kings Dominion in Richmond, Va., where an On-Ride Digital Video System takes up the adventurous trip on the motorway and burns it on a DVD, which then can be acquired and paid after the trip at self-service terminals.

At 75 ticket kiosks named "Universal Express", which are installed over the park area of the Island of Adventure Park and the Universal Studios on Florida, visitors can already since February 2001 determine, when they would like to visit which attraction. They can reserve there a time window of 1 hour for two attractions for themselve. In this time window a seat is guaranteed to them for 15 or fewer minutes. Thus the visitors can organize themselves their trip in the recreational park better and don’t need to spend any longer most time uselessly in queues before the attractions. If the supervisors of the EXPO 2000 in Hanover would have had also only such an idea! If the visitor inserts his entrance ticket equipped with magnetic stripes into the ticket kiosk, he keeps indicated two time windows, in which he can book determined objects of interest in less than 2 seconds on the screen; he gets printed a „Universal Express Pass“ with the for him reserved hour (e.g. between 13:00 h and 14:00 h) - with this passport he then can arrive through a special entrance at his reserved seat. In the meantime this is be solved by RFID still more simply and more efficiently.

Further informationen you will shortly find in the „MediaCityReport - with multimedia media on the overhauling trace“, the most extensive and so far singular study about the best practise of KioskTerminals and Digital Signage all over the world.