Mayor Bloomberg and other officials introduced the revamped NYC Information Center this morning in midtown, unveiling a big room full of high-tech, interactive touch screen tables that enable visitors to plan a customized tour of New York with a wealth of integrated information, and then upload their detailed plans to their mobile devices. (Eat your heart out, John King.) The Information Center, located at 810 Seventh Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets, had been closed since last July, when a $1.8 million renovation began.
Through a partnership with Google, anyone who stops by the Information Center can virtually explore specific locations all over town, and choose from up-to-the-minute cultural events and activities recommended by Time Out, The Observer and Paper Magazine. While planning their day, visitors slide a "You Are Here" Interactive Disc across the screen tables; this disc stores selected events and can then be taken to a Disc Reader on the giant video wall, where a three-dimensional Google Earth map of the city gives a virtual flyover of the day's itinerary. We're told Hizzoner's virtual itinerary included a trip to Snug Harbor, followed by jaunts to the Weeksville Heritage Center, the NY Hall of Science, and Arthur Avenue Retail Market.
Multilingual information kiosks, available in nine foreign languages, offer tips on how to navigate New York City, and multilingual information specialists are on hand to help bewildered tourists. The opening of the new center, designed by WXY Architecture and Urban Design Local Projects, also coincides with the official launch of nycgo.com, the new online resource for exploring NYC, which Bloomberg hopes will attract visitors and "promote the city to people around the world." Below, a video of all the tourist bait in action; be sure to stick around for the 1:19 mark to get a look at the slick new Information Center, which Dads from around the world will be powerless to resist.
Julienne Schaer, courtesy of NYC & Company
