NOW THAT'S A GOOD IDEA

FOOTFALL MONITORING TECHNOLOGY

SAFE SPACE INDICATOR

INNOVATIVE FOOTFALL MONITORING TECHNOLOGY IS HELPING SHOPPERS IN NORTHNOTTINGHAMSHIRE SEE HOW BUSY LOCAL HIGH STREETS ARE BEFORE MAKING THE JOURNEY INTOTOWN AS NON-ESSENTIAL STORES RE-OPEN.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Space monitoring technology that helps show shoppers whether local high streets and stores are busy before they make the journey into town.

WHO’S DOING IT AND WHY?

North Notts Business Improvement District (BID), in an attempt to make social distancing easier for shoppers as non-essential retail outlets begin to re-open across the area.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

North Notts BID is offering people the opportunity to access information through a Safe Space Indicator, which will monitor how busy town centres are in Worksop and Retford. The website uses the BID’s Geosense mobile data and applies a simple traffic light system to indicate how many people are in various parts of the town, acting as an early warning system for potential visitors. The fully anonymised and GDPR-compliant service is delivered by ElephantWiFi, who has also provided the BID’s town centre Wi-Fi service which saw over 140,000 connections last year in Worksop alone.

WHAT ARE NORTH NOTTS BID SAYING?

Sally Gillborn, Chief Executive of North Notts BID, commented: “When non-essential retail is able to re-open, we want everyone to be able to visit our towns while feeling as safe as possible. Social distancing is going to continue to be of paramount importance, so monitoring footfall in this way will allow us to keep an eye on where there may be potential issues and give peace of mind to visitors. The businesses in the district have reacted incredibly to the challenges that Covid-19 has presented, and we want to do everything we can to support them as we begin to return to some semblance of normality.”

WHAT ARE ELEPHANTWIFI SAYING?

Dan Coombs from ElephantWiFi said: “The platform is designed to allow BIDs and place managers to share information with the public about how busy specific areas are. The idea is that someone can check the website and see the state of play in whichever town they are looking to visit, and then make an informed decision on when and how to make the trip.”