Case study · Madrid
The neighbourhood shopping centre, also accessible to the ear.
The Centro Comercial Los Ángeles, in Villaverde, embeds NaviLens codes at the Carrefour hypermarket main entrance and in its interior signage, so any visitor can find their way independently with the free NaviLens GO app.
Madrid · Villaverde
Av. de Andalucía Km 7.1 · south of Madrid
Carrefour + arcade
Hypermarket and shopping arcade under one roof
Access and wayfinding
NaviLens codes at entrance and interior signage
Open since 1992
Over 30 years as the district's gathering point
The client
Centro Comercial
Los Ángeles
The Centro Comercial Los Ángeles opened in 1992 on Avenida de Andalucía Km 7.1, in the heart of the Villaverde district in southern Madrid. It combines a Carrefour hypermarket with a shopping arcade featuring fashion, restaurants, opticians, a pharmacy, a gym, leisure and services.
With its recent renovation, the centre committed to a digital accessibility layer: embedding NaviLens codes at key points along the route, from the welcome sign to the interior signage indicating floors, parking and toilets.
The goal: turn a neighbourhood shopping centre — used daily by residents, seniors and families — into a space where blind or partially sighted shoppers can arrive, navigate and shop without relying on anyone.
§ The challenge
A whole shopping centre voice-guided, without adding a single new sign.
- 01
One entrance, a lot of information
Welcome signs, opening hours, safety notices, hypermarket promotions and centre announcements share a few square metres. For a blind or partially sighted person, just arriving and understanding what's what meant asking a stranger.
- 02
Interior wayfinding with many landmarks
Floors, escalators, parking, accessible toilets, food court, gym, opticians, pharmacy… Hanging signage guides by sight, but does nothing for those who need audio to navigate independently.
- 03
Very diverse visitors every day
Neighbours, seniors, families, people with reduced mobility and tourists arriving by bus or metro to southern Madrid. Accessibility had to serve everyone — not become a 'special sign' for a few.
§ The solution
Codes embedded in the signage that already exists.
Instead of adding parallel signage, the NaviLens codes were built into the centre's own signs: the welcome banner above the hypermarket doors and the overhead directional signs pointing to parking and accessible toilets.
Each code is read by the free NaviLens GO app from more than 10 metres away, without focusing and on the move. The phone reads out, in the visitor's language, the location, what's there and how to continue.
Same signal for a blind person arriving by bus from Atocha, a senior coming to do the shopping, or a tourist stepping out of the metro into the centre for the first time.
§ Signage from the inside
Every shop, every sign, also a sound cue.
The centre's vertical column system — one per shop — is reused as the natural support for the NaviLens code: same height, same position, predictable reading for anyone walking with the app open.
§ Why it matters
Neighbourhood accessibility, in one of the most vibrant districts of southern Madrid.
Carrefour + arcade
A single accessible circuit that covers both the hypermarket and the shops, restaurants and services of the arcade.
Multimodal arrival
Connected by bus lines 18, 22, 59, 79, 85, 86, 123, N13 and N14 and by nearby commuter rail stations: every visitor arrives differently.
Same sign for everyone
There's no 'sign for blind people' and another 'for the rest': the code lives alongside the centre's signage and is only activated by those who need it.
Source: Centro Comercial Los Ángeles · Av. de Andalucía Km 7.1, Villaverde (Madrid). Opened in 1992. Shopping arcade next to a Carrefour hypermarket.
§ And your store?
Every aisle can guide any customer.
Tell us about your store network and your customer journeys. We’ll show you how NaviLens would fit in aisles, entrances and services.
