Digital Makers: Can data help us to understand the city better?
May 9, 2019. Digitization is a highly versatile tool for managing Vienna as a destination, and one that should be used as effectively as possible: digital data support the creation of a comprehensive shared picture of the city, showing how people – visitors and residents alike – move around it, where they spend time, how they use it and where they encounter obstacles. This knowledge is priceless if the benefits of the visitor economy are to be spread throughout the entire city, as well as for alleviating pressure points and risk situations, and combining and marketing offerings effectively. In one element of its workshop with digitization experts, the Vienna Tourist Board invited those present to discuss possible approaches regarding the development of new analytical tools and ways to apply the insights gained.
The discussions were preceded by short keynotes on digital data collection, processing and analysis. Stefan Seer (AIT), Michael Cik (TU Graz, Invenium Data Insights GmbH), Marc Melich (Flink) and Valerie Eichinger (Upstream Mobility) reported on early experiences of visitor flow analysis based on cell phone, WiFi and app usage data. Arno Scharl (MODUL University Vienna) talked about different options for analyzing complex data, using specific combinations of different data types including location data and analysis of the content of social media posts.
The discussion revealed that there was no shortage of mobility data, but there was a lack of semantic data to provide a link to the physical world. In other words, there is still no platform that comprehensively shows which points of interest are located where, and who they might be of interest to. It would also be helpful to question the reasons behind certain patterns of movement and evaluate data according to lifestyle types. One potential use would be the development of a digital concierge based on data that is collected and provided for the purpose, with a view to offering visitors bespoke, personalized suggestions.
The Vienna Tourist Board showed itself to be very open to the idea of comparing notes with a host of different data providers and digitization experts, and confirmed that it was willing to play a part in cooperative pilot projects. The visitor economy has the potential to enrich and benefit other systems with its own data and vice versa.
