The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), through the HBIMSIG-TURISMO project, has developed an innovative solution to sustainably manage the tourist flow in heritage environments. The main objective of the project is to preserve cultural heritage and ensure the safety and comfort of visitors through a tourism planning system based on accurate data.
The study focused on the quantitative analysis of visitor flows around emblematic buildings, using moving image sensors to count people without storing images, thus respecting the privacy of individuals. For this purpose, the researchers chose Witeklab’s CPF-SENSORs (model WTK10070), which provide real-time data on the number of people in a given area, allowing them to identify behavioral patterns and detect peaks in crowds.
The methodology used in this project consisted of:
- Sensor installation. The sensors were strategically distributed around the Valencia Cathedral, one of the most visited monuments in the city.
- Data collection. Data was collected continuously and sent to a cloud server for further analysis.
- Data processing. The data collected by the cameras was sent to a cloud server where they can be accessed, in numerical or graphic format, at any time from any device with an internet connection. This system also allows setting up alerts that are automatically triggered when critical levels of frequentation are recorded.
The conclusions of this project were recently presented at the International Congress on Heritage, Digital Technologies and Tourism Management HEDIT 2024, organized by the UPV, demonstrating the potential of Witeklab sensors as a tool for sustainable tourism management in historic cities.
For more information on this project, please see the press release published by the UPV.