Sutton Coldfield, official known as The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield lies 7 miles North East of Birmingham and has a population of 95,000.
It is one of many district towns around Birmingham.
Assessing the effectiveness of events and general daily footfall is important and to have a robust and consistent solution that is now part of the daily and monthly monitoring and reporting.
Proximity Futures provided two solutions – ElephantWiFi and GEO-Sense. The WiFi was used to give visitors free and unlimited Internet access as well as allowing the Parish Council to update people with event information. In addition to daily visitor information GEO-Sense gave the Council invaluable data on event numbers and hotspots around the town.
The GEO-Sense web portal provides a wealth of information, especially of interest to the Council is Dwell time – The challenge for many towns and high streets is keeping visitors in town for longer with the notion that they spend more with retailers.
GEO-Sense footfall monitoring is also helping Sutton Coldfield Parish Council understand the impact of events as well as better understanding their daily Footfall.
Such was the value of the data being provided, both ElephantWiFi and GEO-Sense was introduced in other towns around Sutton Coldfield including Boldmere, Falcon Lodge, Mere Green, Walmley and Wylde Green – providing the Council with tangible insight on the effectiveness of events and footfall.