Crowd Monitoring in Smart Destinations Based on GDPR-Ready Opportunistic RF Scanning and Classification of WiFi Devices to Identify and Classify Visitors’ Origins

Crowd monitoring was an essential measure to deal with over-tourism problems in urban destinations in the pre-COVID era. It will play a crucial role in the pandemic scenario when restarting tourism and making destinations safer. Notably, a Destination Management Organisation (DMO) of a smart destination needs to deploy a technological layer for crowd monitoring that allows data gathering in order to count visitors and distinguish them from residents. The correct identification of visitors versus residents by a DMO, while privacy rights (e.g., Regulation EU 2016/679, also known as GDPR) are ensured, is an ongoing problem that has not been fully solved. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to gathering crowd data by processing (i) massive scanning of WiFi access points of the smart destination to find SSIDs (Service Set Identifier), as well as (ii) the exposed Preferred Network List (PNL) containing the SSIDs of WiFi access points to which WiFi-enabled mobile devices are likely to connect. These data enable us to provide the number of visitors and residents of a crowd at a given point of interest of a tourism destination. A pilot study has been conducted in the city of Alcoi (Spain), comparing data from our approach with data provided by manually filled surveys from the Alcoi Tourist Info office, with an average accuracy of 83%, thus showing the feasibility of our policy to enrich the information system of a smart destination.This research was carried out within the research Project Alcoi Tourist Lab framework, co-funded by the Alcoi City Council & the Valencian Innovation Agency. The research was also partially funded by project UAPOSTCOVID19-10 from the University of Alicante. Finally, this research was partly supported by the EU CEF project GreenMov, CARM HORECOV-21 project (https://horecovid.com/ (accessed on 12 January 2022)). is financed through the Call for Public Aid destined to finance the Strategic projects contemplated in the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization - RIS3MUR Strategy by the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, through the Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism and Employment within the framework of the FEDER Region of Murcia Operational Program 2014–2020 within the framework Thematic Objective 1. Strengthen research, technological development and innovation by 80% and with CARM’s own funds in 20%, and finally the EU project H2020 NIoVE (833742)

The Development of a Wayfinding Smart Phone Application as a Large Healthcare Facility Investment Opportunity

Health care is a continually growing field. New hospitals are constantly being built, while older facilities are experiencing renovation and expansion. With this growth comes a set of difficulties for patients as they try to navigate through large, multi-building facilities. Most large facilities have multiple parking garages, numerous buildings, and medical towers with an unending number of floors. Patients are forced to rely on directional signage to find their destination that is often insufficient. Attempting to navigate through large facilities is often overwhelming for visitors leading to frustration and stress. New technology has allowed a convenient solution to this problem using visitors’ personal smart phones. NaviHealth is a wayfinding smart phone application that has been created to safely assist visitors in navigating though healthcare facilities. The application gives step-by-step, real-time navigation through parking areas, buildings, floors, and even to the facility itself. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project is to develop a wayfinding smart phone application, NaviHealth, for a large healthcare facility to decrease visitor stress and hospital costs, while improving patient satisfaction. The application was presented to a large healthcare organization in South Mississippi as an investment opportunity. Participants of the project were six employees of the organization’s marketing department. After a presentation discussing NaviHealth, participants completed a Likert-type evaluation tool to assess the organization’s interest in the investment and implementation of the application. Open-ended questions were also competed, and qualitative data was collected. Results of this project determined that although the application showed many positive benefits for the facility, the willingness to further pursue the application for investment was strong but not overwhelmingly unanimous. Changes to the application were recommended by participants to improve the likelihood of application investment

Feasibility Study of a Campus-Based Bikesharing Program at UNLV

Bikesharing systems have been deployed worldwide as a transportation demand management strategy to encourage active modes and reduce single-occupant vehicle travel. These systems have been deployed at universities, both as part of a city program or as a stand-alone system, to serve for trips to work, as well as trips on campus. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTCSNV) has built a public bikesharing system in downtown Las Vegas, approximately five miles from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). This study analyzes the feasibility of a campus-based bikesharing program at UNLV. Through a review of the literature, survey of UNLV students and staff, and field observations and analysis of potential bikeshare station locations, the authors determined that a bikesharing program is feasible at UNLV

Policy Design for Controlling Set-Point Temperature of ACs in Shared Spaces of Buildings

Air conditioning systems are responsible for the major percentage of energy consumption in buildings. Shared spaces constitute considerable office space area, in which most office employees perform their meetings and daily tasks, and therefore the ACs in these areas have significant impact on the energy usage of the entire office building. The cost of this energy consumption, however, is not paid by the shared space users, and the AC's temperature set-point is not determined based on the users' preferences. This latter factor is compounded by the fact that different people may have different choices of temperature set-points and sensitivities to change of temperature. Therefore, it is a challenging task to design an office policy to decide on a particular set-point based on such a diverse preference set. As a result, users are not aware of the energy consumption in shared spaces, which may potentially increase the energy wastage and related cost of office buildings. In this context, this paper proposes an energy policy for an office shared space by exploiting an established temperature control mechanism. In particular, we choose meeting rooms in an office building as the test case and design a policy according to which each user of the room can give a preference on the temperature set-point and is paid for felt discomfort if the set-point is not fixed according to the given preference. On the other hand, users who enjoy the thermal comfort compensate the other users of the room. Thus, the policy enables the users to be cognizant and responsible for the payment on the energy consumption of the office space they are sharing, and at the same time ensures that the users are satisfied either via thermal comfort or through incentives. The policy is also shown to be beneficial for building management. Through experiment based case studies, we show the effectiveness of the proposed policy.Comment: Journal paper accepted in Energy & Buildings (Elsevier

Towards Reducing Convid-19 Spread: A Geo-Location based Attendance Monitoring and Navigation System for Institution

The current pandemic caused by covid-19 has come to stay and has changed many things, including the education sector of the whole world. However, institutions must resume, and academic activities must continue under the precautionary measures for students and staff to stay safe. The question is, how will precautionary measure be observed? This paper provided a geo-location approach in tackling the aspect of attendance management of students and staff in the classroom to maintain social distancing while marking attendance sheets for a large class and minimize time wastage for another lecturer. The developed software also focused in campus area navigation for outsiders or newly admitted students. This research was carried out using smart phones due to its built-in global positioning system (GPS) and can be afforded by all. The developed system was tested online with different smart phones connected to it, 93 feed-backs with 63% correctness were gotten from the system prediction

ZigBee Based Control System for People with Multiple Disabilities: A Review

Most of the existing smart home monitoring and control systems do not accommodate special needy users to manage their home appliances. A wireless sensor network based system for smart home automation will be designed, built and tested to address such missing functionality. The to be implemented system’s major contribution is that it is customized to provide the special need residents with tools and services to monitor and operate home appliances remotely. The implemented system provides home residents with disabilities to take advantage of the advancement in technology. It enables them to perform their daily activities by remotely monitoring and controlling their home appliances without having to depend on others. The system will be programmed so that it can be configured to adjust to the customer’s disability providing them with better and convenient lifestyle. It is worth mentioning that the system is scalable and can be extended to include more and different services and tools. The system is portable, compact, affordable and easy to use

Analysis Of Sensors Used to Make Smart Homes

One of the most widely used Internet of Things applications is home automation. There has been a huge shift in the way humans live their lives, making it easier and more beautiful. It aids in the discovery of easy answers to a wide range of difficult problems. Every application of home automation is linked to the others through the Internet. All of these applications are interconnected through sensors. These sensors can be used to operate a variety of devices, including doors, fans, lights, gas, televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioning. As a result, there is no requirement for human intervention. Our homes have become exceedingly safe thanks to the use of sensors. So that if there is an accident, we will be able to detect it from a long distance without difficulty. It is also capable of preventing unintended mishaps with the use of this technology. The most important thing to understand is which sensors will be used to create this smart house. Aspects such as finances are taken into consideration so that we can use the sensors to build smart houses as needed. This paper describes a technique for smart home automation that is low-cost and wireless, and it makes use of several types of sensors and the Internet of Things to accomplish this. Following extensive investigation, we develop a viable prototype. Specifically, we are interested in suggestions about what types of sensors are utilized to create a smart house, how much they cost, and a thorough understanding of how the sensors are used for various purposes

Transition to smart card technology : how transit operators can encourage the take-up of smart card technology

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-184).This thesis explores and evaluates the essential strategies needed for transit agencies to switch from traditional fare collection systems to smart cards. More transit agencies today are investing in smart card technology as part of their new automated fare collection (AFC) systems. Although the benefits of switching to smart card systems have been well-researched and acknowledged by transit agencies, it is unclear how a transit agency should go about implementing a smart card system in order to achieve optimum customer acceptance and to reap maximum benefits from the system. Recent experience has shown that a range of implementation policy decisions can go a long way towards speeding or slowing down the adoption of the technology by customers. A case study approach is used here to identify and evaluate the effectiveness and impacts of policies used by five transit agencies that currently employ smart cards. These policies fall into two categories: 1) distribution, operational and usage policies, and 2) fare policies. Distribution, operational and usage policies must be designed to facilitate and enhance customer adoption of smart cards, especially in the case where alternative fare media will co-exist.(cont.) Fare policies are designed to differentiate smart cards from other fare media through differential pricing strategies, frequent-use bonuses and low price guarantees. The thesis also examines the use of fare models in assisting transit agencies to predict ridership and revenue, especially focusing on the features needed in these models to predict the usage rates of smart cards and their associated unique fare options. Finally, the findings from the research are integrated and used to develop a set of guidelines for use by a transit agency that is switching to a smart card fare payment system. The main topics of these guidelines were identified as: 1) the use of fare policy incentives, 2) balance between restrictions and alternatives with respect to co-existing fare media, 3) accessibility to smart card support services, 4) capitalizing on the superiority of smart card technology, and 5) the use of a single card. To illustrate the usefulness of the guidelines, they were applied to a case study of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)'s new AFC program, the CharlieCard.by Yi Hong.S.M

Technology as an economic catalyst in rural and depressed places in Massachusetts

This paper uses case studies, including two cities (Lynn and New Bedford), a sub-city district (Roxbury) and two towns in rural Franklin County (Greenfield and Orange), to examine the role of technology as a potential economic catalyst in rural and depressed places in Massachusetts. Though the five target areas vary in size, density, geographic area, demographic characteristics and economic resources, each exhibits chronic patterns of economic distress related to the decline of manufacturing, construction and other key industries

Information Systems’ Portfolio: Contributions Of Enterprise And Process Architecture

We are witnessing a need for a quick and intelligent reaction from organizations to the level and speed of change in business processes. New information technologies and systems (IT/IS) are challenging business models and products. One of the great shakes comes from the online and/or mobile apps and platforms. These are having a tremendous impact in launching innovative and competitive services through the combination of digital and physical features. This leads to actively rethink enterprise information systems' portfolio, its management and suitability. One relevant way for enterprises to manage their IT/IS in order to cope with those challenges is enterprise and process architecture. A decision-making culture based on processes helps to understand and define the different elements that shape an organization and how those elements inter-relate inside and outside it. IT/IS portfolio management requires an increasing need of modeling data and process flows for better discerning and acting at its selection and alignment with business goals. The new generation of enterprise architecture (NGEA) helps to design intelligent processes that answer quickly and creatively to new and challenging trends. This has to be open, agile and context-aware to allow well-designed services that match users' expectations. This study includes two real cases/problems to solve quickly in companies and solutions are presented in line with this architectural approach.FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/SOC/04020/2013]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio