Aug

You are here. Or there. Wherever you are, we’ll help you find your way

The Office of Visitor Services has produced—with help from our talented colleagues at Smithsonian Exhibitions—a redesigned and updated Smithsonian museum map, along with other resources for visitors to make it easier to plan a visit and discover our museums.

As many of you requested, we’ve straightened the orientation of the map to make it easier to direct visitors. The map has been expanded to include the area from the Renwick Gallery to the west, Union Station to the east, and C and D streets south of the National Mall. We’ve also added insert maps for the National Zoo, the Udvar-Hazy Center, and the Anacostia Community Museum. The map is available online at si.edu/visit/maps.

You may have noticed the new map on our exterior signage (in the four-sided sign frames near the corners of the museums on the Mall and at American Art and the Portrait Gallery). The wayfinding signage (facing the sidewalk) features the new map and amenity icons for the Washington-area museums. Each wayfinding sign now features a ‘You Are Here’ icon to help visitors orient themselves. We’ve also called out and provided web addresses for the two new museums, the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. The other large face of the side frames features our Scan. Plan. Go! panel that promotes the Virtual Visitor Center (si.edu/visit), with a QR code for easy access. Smithsonian Exhibitions was crucial in producing this new signage as well.

Wayfinding kiosk on the sidewalk with Museum map on one side.

Photo by Bridget Balog

Woman in white shirt and black pants scans a QR code at the Scan, Plan, Go kiosk

The “Scan. Plan. Go” kiosk outside the Smithsonian Castle allows visitors to quickly access the Virtual Visitor Center with a QR code. (Photo courtesy Bridget Balog)

Blue and yellow cover of the Smithsonian pocket guide

Cover of the new Pocket Guide to the Smithsonian. (Photo courtesy Bridget Balog)

OVS also is finalizing work on a new Smithsonian Pocket Guide to replace the Smithsonian Guide and Map. It includes the new map and brief information about each Smithsonian museum, the National Zoo, and Smithsonian Gardens on one side. The other side highlights the Virtual Visitor Center and its various features: the My Visit tool, Virtual Information Desk, Castle Stories, and Smithsonian Scavenger Hunts. It has expanded accessibility information and a call-out to Smithsonian Ambassadors on the Mall. Of course, it still includes information on how to contact us and ideas for staying in touch from home. We hope to have the new Smithsonian Pocket Guide in English at the desks by the end of the year and in braille and large print a bit later. The Spanish version should be available early in 2024, with selected foreign languages following as translations and printing are completed.

We appreciate your feedback on these resources and hope they are even more helpful to you as you greet our visitors help them explore everything the Smithsonian has to offer.

Bridget Balog is an OVS Visitor Services Coordinator, responsible for managing and responding to visitor inquiries via email and postal mail, producing and distributing the Smithsonian-wide visitor brochure, and managing OVS’s exterior signage program.