St. Charles using ‘highly accurate’ AI data to track event participation, market trends

The city of St. Charles has been using artificial intelligence analytics to assess the foot traffic patterns and consumer behavior of residents and visitors and to monitor the success of city events.

Placer.ai is a location analytics platform that uses geospatial data from people’s cellphones – provided by cellular networks – to monitor the travel patterns and spending habits of people in St. Charles to better assess the success of events and initiatives in the city.

Economic development director Derek Conley gave a presentation on the new technology to City Council members at the Nov. 18 Government Operations Committee meeting. He said the intention is for the city and the St. Charles Business Alliance to use the program to make informed decisions and evaluate the success of city events and initiatives as well as monitor market trends.

Conley said the city has been using the program for a few months and gave an overview of the technology’s capabilities. He said the data Placer.ai buys from the cellular companies is wiped of any customers’ personal data.

Several maps and graphics generated by the program showed the number of visitors during a specific event weekend, where they traveled from, what businesses they visited and how long they stayed.

Conley said the program also can be used to see what businesses or events St. Charles residents leave town for, which he said could be used to identify what businesses may be worth bringing to the city.

Conley said while the program provides highly accurate analytics for where people spend their time, it cannot track individuals and neither the city nor Placer.ai can see exact locations or addresses. He said Placer.ai uses census data to project demographics and estimate home locations by census blocks.

“I don’t get to see the actual home or the address and [Placer.ai] doesn’t either,” Conley said.

Conley said the program can provide visitor data for an event as recent as a week before the event.

St. Charles resident Michael Nelson was the only person to speak during the public comment portion at the end of the meeting.

Nelson opened by saying he sees a lot of value in taking a data-driven and data-aware approach to city government and how actions are taken. He offered some pushback against the technology, however, citing concerns that the use of AI technology could be a slippery slope toward excessive surveillance and privacy invasion.

“It truly seems like a highly disturbing slippery slope to participate in,” Nelson said. “It might just be a gut reaction to the technology itself, but it seems like a slope of information, awareness and panopticon that just seems highly disturbing as a resident here.”

The program costs $20,000 a year, which is split 50/50 between the city and the St. Charles Business Alliance.