Vivitek’s NovoDS Digital Signage solution just got a major update that focused on public safety with crowd control — using a People Counting widget. Available for free, the upgrade add flexibility and value to all organizations’ digital signage needs.

With staff now returning back to the workplace, customers coming back to stores and education institutions preparing to welcome students back after the lockdown and summer period, the upgrades to NovoDS make it easy to ensure that social distancing directions can be easily updated and broadcast to all screens. A key factor contributing to a safe environment is crowd control, which is enabled with the free People Counting widget in NovoDS Studio and NovoDS Cloud when used with the Vivotek Counting camera. When using the People Counting widget and the Vivotek camera, the signage display can indicate the number of people in a specific area at any given time, relative to the maximum number allowed to enter. This makes it easier to control the flow of people safely, thus limiting the dangers of breaching social distancing rules by overcrowding a space. The screen can also continue to display welcome messages, way-finding information, lunch or promotional offers, or last minute lesson or room changes.

Here’s a video of how the Counting Camera works:

The recent upgrades also offers free widgets available help users to add their creativity to playlist creations. For instance, users can set internet radio as background music in environments that have the relevant license to play music in a public place. Alternatively, users can also select their local music as the background music. For added convenience, no networking or computer connectivity is required.

To create even more visual impact, NovoDS users can now use their Facebook or Instagram content as their image library. They can easily export pictures and images from their Facebook and Instagram accounts, enabling them to pair their images with their music to create a truly personalized viewing and listening experience. Additionally, a new Classic theme is now available for Twitter messages, as well as stylish and contemporary styles for presenting weather updates.

The Video Playback Window is a new option that enables users to specify the playback window’s start time and end time, with no video editing required. This feature will make it easier for any administrator to add in video selections into any playlist.

Also added is a new NovoDS’s “Go-Back” button. This enables users to build interactive signage applications even more quickly and easily. This makes HTML5-based kiosk solutions complete.

The free upgrade features apply to the entire NovoDS portfolio of add-on devices to add Digital Signage to existing screens, as well as NovoDisplay which offers a 4K screen with digital signage and wireless collaboration embedded.