Liverpool ONE is a large, mixed indoor and outdoor shopping complex presenting unique navigation challenges due to its size, complex layout, and the frequency with which stores, restaurants, and other points of interest change. Traditional wayfinding kiosks — expensive to install and slow to update — struggle to keep pace with the dynamic nature of a large retail environment.
The deployment demonstrates Waymap's ability to deliver precise navigation guidance in large, complex urban retail environments — with a long-term objective of completely replacing static kiosks with a solution that offers equivalent map information alongside real-time guidance, accessible anywhere via smartphone.
Dual objectives: accessibility and operations
Liverpool ONE deployed Waymap as a mass-market solution for all customers. However, Waymap's advanced accessibility features — step-level accuracy, step-free routing, personalised step counts, and tailored route preferences — also addressed a key additional objective: enhancing the complex's accessibility for customers with visual impairments, cognitive impairments, and wheelchair users.
The deployment encompassed both Waymap's navigation application and its content management system (CMS). The CMS was a key focus for Liverpool ONE, enabling management to accurately monitor the up-to-date location and status of all POIs, hide and rename stores to reflect changes in the complex, and seamlessly publish updates directly to the mobile application once approved. This means customers always receive current map information — not the stale data that plagues static kiosk systems.
Step-level accuracy for all users
The app's navigation guidance allows customers to confidently identify and locate stores, restaurants, restrooms, and other key points of interest. The system works without GPS, Wi-Fi signal dependency, or installed hardware — critical for a complex environment where indoor signal coverage can be inconsistent.
User testing demonstrated strong wayfinding performance across the complex — with users successfully navigating to exact store destinations across Liverpool ONE's approximately 1.4 million square feet of mixed indoor and outdoor space. The app's presence resulted in a notable reduction in the use of static wayfinding kiosks for directions, reducing congestion within the complex.
Operational efficiency
Liverpool ONE management noted a significant improvement in operating efficiencies through Waymap's CMS. The ability to monitor, edit, and publish POI updates in real time — and have those changes reflected immediately in the app — represents a fundamental improvement over static kiosk management. It also unlocks the potential to repurpose kiosks entirely for advertising, delivering a direct commercial benefit alongside the improved visitor experience.
Accessibility impact
Step-level accuracy, step-free routing options, and customisable navigation instructions were particularly impactful for users with visual impairments, cognitive impairments, and mobility challenges — enabling them to travel independently through a complex environment that would previously have required staff assistance.
- Waymap internal deployment data — Liverpool ONE.
- Liverpool ONE. liverpool-one.com