Analysis of Spatial Characteristics of Digital Signage in Beijing with Multi-Source Data

Digital signage is an important medium for urban outdoor advertising. Understanding the spatial distribution characteristics and factors that influence the site of digital signage are conducive to the efficient, standardized, and sustainable development of digital signage. The outdoor commercial digital signage within the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing is taken as the research object, and social network check-ins, housing prices, traffic network centrality and the mount of commercial facilities are considered factors that influence digital signage. The spatial distribution characteristics of digital signage are studied by using point pattern analysis methods. Moreover, we use three spatial clustering algorithms to study the hierarchical spatial characteristics of digital signage and test the effectiveness of the results. In addition, the factors that influence the distribution of digital signage are analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. The results indicate that (1) the digital signage in Beijing generally presents a relatively concentrated distribution with centrality and forms an obvious gathering area and the agglomeration centers are mainly concentrated in the core parts of the central business district (CBD). (2) Digital signage is categorized into three groups, the traffic-oriented, the population-oriented, and the market-oriented. In addition, the spatial distribution of digital signage is consistent with the historical urban development of Beijing. (3) The social network check-ins with dynamic population characteristics had the highest correlation with the operation cost of digital signage. The spatial characteristics of digital signage evaluated in this study can effectively enhance the sustainable management of digital signage and provide a reference for research of the sustainable allocation of digital signage resources.