The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is to install
gateways and sensor devices that will connect it to North’s IoT Scotland
network.
North currently runs the £6 million IoT Scotland network
with funding from the Scottish government and its enterprise schemes, providing
the infrastructure for companies to tap into smart sensor applications.
The proposal came as a result of the unprecedented surge in
visitors Scotland’s natural parks saw during the pandemic and a desire to help
manage these tourism surges in a sustainable way.
Alasdair Rettie, group technical director at North, said:
“The pandemic has seen a huge upsurge in people taking up walking and outdoor
activities and it is important that data plays a role in monitoring such trends
to protect beauty spots, ensuring that we can facilitate tourism in a
sustainable way.
Through the installation of gateways and sensors, the CNPA
and other local authorities will be able to use innovative technologies to
monitor footfall, route usage and vehicle parking. It will also allow local
businesses to deploy data gathering sensors that will provide insights to help
them improve their services.
The footfall and car park sensors will be installed around
the Aviemore and Cairngorm areas and will communicate with the IoT Scotland
network through gateways set up at Glenmore Lodge, Ciste, Day Lodge and two
buildings within Aviemore.
Using the data from footfall around the area, the
authorities at Cairngorms and partners will be able to monitor the most popular
routes and carparks to ensure they are effectively managed to prevent
degradation of the natural beauty spots.
Adam Streeter-Smith, recreation and access manager for CNPA,
said: “We are in the process of purchasing path and vehicle counters which will
be deployed locally in partnership with local land managers, including Forest
and Land Scotland and Cairngorm Mountain.
In time, the data collected will help us all build up a much
better picture of who uses the area and the peak times for visiting. We will
make this information available for others to use so that we can manage the
area better.”
Ref: https://iottechnews.com/news/2021/oct/01/cairngorms-national-park-working-with-iot-network-to-monitor-footfall/