In an attempt to feel modern and appeal to the 21st century tourist New York City has developed a new tourist information center. They decided that the human factor was highly overrated and replaced most of their functions by interactive screens featuring Google Maps.

As you can see in the video this resulted in a very interactive space. People can play around with the map of New York and see where they are and what’s around them. The center can act as a good starting point for exploring the city. By giving the system input of your interests and perhaps the maximum distance things can be will result in a digital advice.

Suddenly the visit to the center itself has become an experience. But we must not underestimate the importance of contact between humans. This system may look nice for younger people, but elderly are probably scared away. And besided that it’s also a good thing to have actual contact with people who know their way around the city.

At the same time they launched their new website nycgo, which is also nice… but not as special as the information center. Online they also have a good Google Maps tool.