Airport Wayfinding Guidebook Published
(10.04.2011) -- ACRP Report 52, Wayfinding and Signage Guidelines for Airport Terminals and Landside, researched and written by SEGD member firm Gresham, Smith and Partners (Nashville), has been published.
A team led by Gresham, Smith completed the report on behalf of the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP), managed by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. The guidebook aims to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of passengers within each airport and from one airport to another through the uniform application of wayfinding best practices and common design criteria.
"The increasing number of airport users in the United States, combined with the evolution of terminal design as well as the wide range of airport sizes and configurations, make wayfinding more complex than ever before," says Jim Harding, director of environmental graphic design for GS&P and the firm's principal investigator on the guidebook. "Our intent is that by airports adopting the wayfinding principles in this guideline, the overall airport users' experience across the country will be improved."
Prior to the publication of the report, there was no single document or guidebook available to airport operators illustrating best practices for wayfinding and signing the airport terminal and landside areas. The report provides guidelines for on-airport roadways and off-airport access roads; parking; curbside/ground transportation; and terminal, including concourses, gates, ticketing/check-in, security checkpoints, federal inspection services, and baggage claim.
Photo: Gresham, Smith and Partners
"The needs, problems, issues, and solutions can vary greatly between the airport roadway and the airport terminal as well as from airport to airport," Harding notes. "These guidelines include a systematic process for evaluating an airport that will ultimately yield improvements in the passenger wayfinding experience by understanding the sometimes elusive factor of 'why' passengers get lost. By taking time to understand the 'why,' an airport will be able to develop their own wayfinding strategy that works to meet their specific needs."
The report is available from the Transportation Research board at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/acrp/acrp_rpt_052.pdf.
GS&P managed the research project. The Texas Transportation Institute, Big Sky, Human Factors North, and SEGD and the Airport Sign Managers Network provided consulting support.
GS&P is current working on another ACRP guidebook on airport wayfinding, entitled Applying Intelligent Transportation Systems to Improve Airport Traveler Access Information. GS&P was recently selected to provide design services for a comprehensive signage upgrade at Philadelphia International Airport and completed recent wayfinding and signage projects at the new Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal in Atlanta, Denver International Airport, Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport, and Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport.