Since 2017, Skansen, one of the Nordic region's most popular tourist destinations with 1.4 million visitors, has used people counters from IMAS. "We have a good collaboration with IMAS, which offers flexible solutions and personal service," says Göran Kirsch, who is head of security at Skansen. Here, Göran talks about how Skansen uses both people counters with 3D and WiFi to improve the visitor experience and facilitate daily operations.
On a large mountain in the middle of central Stockholm, Sweden, you find the world’s oldest open-air museum full of life and visitors. When Skansen started counting their guests four years ago, they first wanted to find out how many people are visiting the houses and farms showcasing old Swedish buildings. People counters with 3D function were therefore placed discreetly inside the cultural-historical buildings.
- For large parts of the season, these indoor environments are staffed with people who meet and guide the guests on site. For us, it was important to know how many people that visit the buildings and when they do it to better plan staffing and opening hours.
Upgraded the people counting solution with real-time occupancy
Since then, Skansen has upgraded its solutions and can now see in real time exactly how many people are inside the 300,000 square meters area.
- Right now, we can have 5000 guests at the same time inside Skansen. We know what entrances visitors enters and exits and at what time they do it. It is a great security for us at Skansen, says Göran.
The new Baltic Sea Science Center is also equipped with people counters in all five entrances and exits.
- In addition to knowing which entrances are used and what the number of visitors looks like over time, we also get real-time information on the number of guests in the new center, which is very valuable, says Göran.
With WiFi Nodes, Skansen can track people flow
To find out how the guests at Björnberget (an area inside the park) move and which areas are more or less popular, Skansen has started using WiFi measurement at Björnberget.
- We use WiFi nodes (access points), which makes it easy to collect information about movement patterns to improve for our guests and offer them better services. There is great potential here and we are only at the beginning of this work, says Göran.
People counting with WiFI is completely anonymized and GDPR approved. It works in such a way that signals from smart devices are picked up and converted into data that shows movement patterns, cold and hot zones and the number of visitors.
What do you think it is like to work with IMAS?
- We have a good collaboration with IMAS and are satisfied in every way. It is easy to use the Xperio portal which works very well. I think that IMAS offers flexible solutions, provides fast response and personal service, says Göran in conclusion.
About IMAS
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Facts about Skansen
Skansen is the world’s oldest open-air museum, showcasing the whole of Sweden with houses and farmsteads from every part of the country.
At Skansen, you can discover Sweden’s history and find out how Swedes once lived according to the changing seasons, through the customs and traditions, work, celebrations and everyday life of times gone by.
Skansen is a popular destination with about 1.4 million visitors each year. The park was founded in 1891 and is located on a mountain in the middle of central Stockholm and has an area of 300,000 square meters.