Footfall Tech to Track Visitors

Footfall in York city centre will be monitored using new technology that utilises GPS tracking and credit card data.

07:27 27 March 2020

A new technology will be used to gather information about people visiting York’s city centre. Using GPS tracking and credit card data, the system will find out where the visitors are from, how much money they spend, where they go and what they think about York. 

 

The technology has been designed to comply with privacy guidance set by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner and Information Commissioner’s Office. 

 

Simon Brereton, the council's head of economic growth, said: "The monitoring of how many people are in the city centre is a really important indicator for the council.

 

"We've been collecting data for about 10 years now through Springboard, a specialist provide.Over those 10 years technology has moved on considerably.

 

"In collaboration particularly with the Business Improvement District we've been thinking about actually whether we might be able to produce a more useful, deeper level of intelligence around of how our city centre is doing and how people are using it."

 

Cllr Andrew Waller added that information gathered by the system will help the council make better decisions in boosting the local economy. He said: "I have had representations from residents who are concerned about the gathering of data and I myself raised a few eyebrows about what data there is available and, in other places, is being collected without our knowledge."