EANS-News: Hoeft & Wessel develops new user interface for ticket vending machines

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Research & Development

Subtitle: EU-sponsored project in the interests of improved user
friendliness and NFC support

Hannover/Germany, 28/07/2011. (euro adhoc) - Within the scope of a
pan-European EU project, Hoeft & Wessel is developing a new user
interface for ticket vending machines. Several 100,000s of bank and
ticket vending machines have been installed in Europe. These
self-service terminals are an important point of contact for millions
of persons every day. The EU is now funding a project worth millions
to facilitate access to such services. The operation of terminals via
touch-screen displays - the so-called user interface - is perceived
as having substantial optimisation potential. Thanks to its many
years of international experience in this field, Hoeft & Wessel has
been awarded the contract to develop this software for TVMs. This
represents a high level of responsibility for users of the public
transport network in Europe.

The total lifetime of the international project APSIS4all -
Accessible Personalised Services In Public Digital Terminals for all
- is three years, including the trial phase. The German pilot project
is being carried out under the overall supervision of Hoeft & Wessel.
The software developed for the TVMs of the type almex.station is
being tested jointly with the transport company PaderSprinter
headquartered in Paderborn, Germany. Other participants are a
nationwide German interest group for the socially disadvantaged,
namely SoVD (Sozialverband Deutschland) that represents the users, as
well as the Austrian company CURE, specialists in the field of
interface design. An initial test is scheduled for 2012.

The objective of the project is to enable poorly trained as well as
senior citizens or persons with impaired mobility to have enhanced
access to self- service terminals and, therefore, to persuade them to
use the facilities in question.

For passengers, it will become even easier to operate the terminals
in future. To this end, customers will be given a SmartCard featuring
RFID technology, to which individual screen and operating parameters
are saved. Once the data is scanned, the software ensures that the
font size, colour and contrast of the user interface are adjusted to
the large touch-screen display of the TVMs in line with the profile
saved to the card in question. The TVMs thus automatically adapt to
the personal needs and preferences of each individual passenger. By
way of supplementation, a ticket purchase can also be supported by
using an NFC-enabled smart phone.

The new software substantially reduces the necessary information to
be entered by the passenger. This development makes it considerably
easier to operate public self-service terminals and leads to a
further improvement in the level of user-friendliness. As a result,
this makes public transport services more attractive and thus also
improves the mobility of senior citizens and passengers with impaired
mobility.

http://www.apsis4all.eu/

Press folder with photos:
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/12945/hoeft_wessel_ag/

The Company The Hoeft & Wessel Group is the leading IT and
engineering technology Group for ticketing, parking and mobile
solutions in Germany and Great Britain. Established in 1978 by the
two entrepreneurs who gave the company its name and listed on the
stock market since 1998, the enterprise has developed into a group of
companies with sales revenues of nearly EUR 100 million and a
workforce of 500 employees. Its main locations are Hannover, Germany,
and Swindon, UK, to the west of London.

www.hoeft-wessel.com

Further inquiry note:
Arnd Fritzemeier
Tel.: +49-511-6102-300
E-Mail: PR@hoeft-wessel.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
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company: Höft & Wessel AG
Rotenburger Str. 20
D-30659 Hannover
phone: +49-511-6102-0
FAX: +49-511-6102-411
mail: ir@hoeft-wessel.com
WWW: http://www.hoeft-wessel.com
sector: Technology
ISIN: DE0006011000
indexes: Prime All Share, Technology All Share
stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hannover, München
language: English