Data feed management for Digital Signage

Data feed management for Digital Signage

Easily integrate real-time data feeds into your content

Improve your digital signage content by using real-time data feeds. These feeds constantly update live data, effectively grabbing and keeping viewers’ attention.

Include real-time data like weather forecasts, traffic reports, and business news in your digital signage templates. This encourages viewers to regularly look at your displays, increasing the chances of them engaging with your corporate messages.

Navori simplifies the integration of live data sources with its easy-to-use tool called Data Feed Manager. It is a standard feature included in the Navori Digital Signage Platform. The Data Feed Manager makes it simple to input and display various data feeds, including RSS, Media RSS, XML, Server Feed, Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Effortlessly integrate any type of data into your template layouts using QL’s Template and Ticker Designer apps. These apps provide simple drag-and-drop tools that let you showcase real-time content, such as company news, meeting room schedules, upcoming events, and business dashboards. You can also create digital menu boards with information from external databases or directly from QL Server.

Live Departure Template

Real-time data feeds

Real-time digital signage data feeds play an important role as external sources of information and graphics. Trusted third-party data providers or your company’s databases can derive these feeds. QL Templates offer two versatile formats that make the display of data a breeze. Firstly, customizable transition effects accompany individual cells, showcasing records sequentially. Secondly, data can be efficiently arranged in organized table formats with columns and rows.

QL Templates effortlessly handle the formatting based on your specifications. The continuous updating of information ensures up-to-date data without the need for manual intervention. This streamlined process keeps your audience engaged by keeping your content fresh.

QL Data Feed Manager

How to use media rss, xml, social media and calendar data feeds?

Traditional use of real-time data feeds involves adding live data elements into content templates. Today, content managers using QL Digital Signage Software are also able to leverage their data feeds in order to automate their digital signage workflows and content decisions:

You can use data feeds to activate any content based on live events using stored values and rules you create.

You can also use data feeds to trigger one or multiple media items based on live events using stored values and rules you create.

QL GUI Play If

QL supported data feeds

  • RSS, media RSS, and XML. Typically news and weather but can also be data extracted from an ERP, CRM, or any software capable of interacting with a database. Common alerting protocol (CAP) is also supported. Content must be available as alphanumeric data or links to images and videos
  • Social media feeds from Twitter or Facebook that can be filtered by region or by language.
  • Microsoft 365, and Google Calendar data.
  • QL hosted data feeds in table format with cells containing alphanumeric data and images.

Live data feed refresh protocols and architecture

Data Pull: Users set QL Player’s data refresh rate for all RSS, XML, social media, and calendar feeds.
Data Push: QL Players receive QL server data feed updates whenever a user modifies the data using the QL Data Feed Manager or when a third-party application modifies the data via the QL API.

Why use QL server feeds?

QL Server feeds eliminate the need for digital signage players to make calls to third-party data providers, particularly when those providers are external to your system’s network. Furthermore, any changes made are promptly broadcasted to all your players.

Users can leverage QL Mobile to instantly publish photos and post messages to any QL Player. This feature offers significant advantages for retail stores and Quick-Service Restaurants (QSRs).

The server actively pushes data to the players whenever there is a modification. It ensures that these updates are delivered in real-time, specifically to the players that need the updated data.

Personalize a data feed on the fly, from one site or player to another

Picture a scenario where QL Players are deployed nationwide and the information displayed information at each location must be personalized. This is where QL’s dynamic data feed feature comes into action. It allows you to present current weather conditions and forecasts based on the physical location of each player, all through a single template.

Here’s how it works: Start by assigning variables to each location and inputting the latitude and longitude of each player. You have the flexibility to assign additional variables, like showing temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit based on specific locations. You can even specify different languages for each location. By implementing QL’s dynamic data feed feature, your digital signage content becomes highly personalized and tailored to each location.

player variables

You assign variables to each player via a unique technical profile and enter the information that QL’s Data Feed Manager will use to recreate the data source’s URL. So, if variable 1 assigned to a player contains the location’s longitude data, that information will appear in the URL where the [1] variable appears.

The Data Feed Manager will reconstitute each location’s full URL using each variable’s content, creating a unique URL for each location. This is a fully dynamic process. You only need to write the URL with each variable replacing the data for each location. For example, [1] for longitude, [2] for latitude, [3] for the temperature scale, and so on.

The data source, which can be any web service or server, must generate XML feeds that match the variables you created so each QL Player can reconstitute their own unique URL.

Display content based on feed rules and values

Users can define rules that determine if specific content can be shown on screen based on values retrieved from external data feeds. QL’s rule-based programming  supports multiple variables that can be used to create personalized content playback scenarios.

When the content is part of a scheduled playlist and the scenario is true, the content will appear on screen with the other scheduled content. When the scenario is false it will stop playing while the other items in the playlist continue to play.

Users have the ability to define rules that determine whether specific content can be displayed on the screen, based on values obtained from external data feeds. QL’s rule-based programming feature supports multiple operators, allowing users to create complex scenarios for content playback. Multiple rules can also be combined for enhanced customization.

If the content is included in a scheduled playlist and the data rules are met, the content will be shown on the screen alongside other scheduled content. However, if the scenario does not meet the criteria, the content will stop playing while the remaining items in the playlist continue to play.

Using API vs. user interface to update a QL server feed?

Users who develop their code for more advanced digital signage applications can utilize the QL API. This is particularly beneficial for handling complex scenarios that cannot be accommodated by QL’s rule-based logic.

The QL API is also valuable for managing extensive data sets or automating various processes by bypassing the QL Content Manager user interface. For additional information, please refer to the QL Server API Documentation.

How to trigger content based on data value?

You can use the same method to display content based on a data feed as you do when showing content in a playlist. Simply put the content in QL’s Trigger folder, and the rule-based programming feature will act as a trigger. When the rule is true, the assigned content will be shown on the screens instead of the scheduled playlist. The content will continue playing as long as the condition remains true. However, once the condition becomes false, the content will disappear, and the scheduled playlist will resume.

For instance, if there is an alert from a fire alarm system in the data feed, QL Player will automatically display an evacuation notice on the screen. You can assign different messages for various situations such as fire, flooding, or wind damage.

Frequently Asked questions

What makes Data Feed Manager unique?

The QL Data Feed Manager is a feature within Navori’s digital signage software, specifically their QL platform, that enables users to integrate and display real-time data feeds in their digital signage content. Here are some unique aspects of the QL Data Feed Manager:

  1. Versatile data integration: The QL Data Feed Manager offers versatile data integration capabilities, allowing users to incorporate various types of data feeds into their digital signage content. This can include real-time information such as weather updates, news headlines, social media feeds, stock market data, live event schedules, and more. The feature supports popular data formats and protocols, enabling seamless integration with external data sources.
  2. Dynamic data-driven content: The QL Data Feed Manager enables users to create dynamic and data-driven content based on the integrated data feeds. Users can define rules and conditions to display specific content based on data values or events. For example, they can create content that showcases different promotions based on weather conditions or displays social media posts related to a specific hashtag. This dynamic content ensures that the digital signage remains relevant, up-to-date, and engaging for the audience.
  3. Design flexibility: The QL Data Feed Manager provides design flexibility, allowing users to customize the appearance and layout of the data-driven content. Users can leverage the template design tools within the Navori software to create visually appealing templates that showcase the integrated data in an aesthetically pleasing and brand-consistent manner. The design flexibility ensures that the data-driven content seamlessly integrates with the overall digital signage messaging and enhances the visual impact.
  4. Real-time updates: The QL Data Feed Manager enables real-time updates of the displayed data. As the integrated data feeds update, the content on the digital signage can automatically refresh to reflect the latest information. This real-time updating capability ensures that the audience receives the most current and relevant data without manual intervention.
  5. Centralized management: The QL Data Feed Manager is part of Navori’s centralized management platform, allowing users to manage and control the data feeds from a single interface. Users can easily configure and update the data feed settings, define the display parameters, and monitor the performance of the integrated data feeds. The centralized management streamlines the administration and maintenance of data-driven content across multiple screens and locations.