Pilot visitor monitoring downtown Nuenen
From mid-January 2024, the municipality of Nuenen - together with the Van Gogh Village Museum, Stichting Centrummanagement Nuenen and Van Gogh Brabant - will be counting visitor numbers in the center of Nuenen. We want to get a picture of how busy the center is. It concerns all visitors: both residents who come to do their shopping and tourists, and everything in between.
We expect an increase in visitors in 2024, due in part to the expansion of the Van Gogh Village Museum in 2023. Visitor monitoring will give us a picture of how busy the center is. We want to know the number of visitors and which locations are the busiest.
Counting sensors at downtown locations
Specifically, starting in mid-January 2024, we started a pilot with remote sensors. For a period of time, we first attached countersensors to existing (lampposts) at twelve locations. The call sensors only register movements and do not collect personal data. After this initial period, we chose seven definitive locations in the center of Nuenen. At these seven final locations, we will attach a remote sensor for one year - until the end of 2024.
The pilot ends at the end of December 2024. Then the monitoring also stops. Depending on the results of the pilot, we will decide to continue or not or in a different form.
Livestream
On Robinson's live stream you can see the current counts of the past 24 hours: Live stream - Robinson (robinson-counts.com).
Frequently asked questions and answers
Where do the remote sensors hang?
At 7 spots in the center:
- Park entrance, south side
- Park entrance, north side
- Court of Wijck entrance
- Mountain at the height of CMD
- Mountain 35/Second Home
- Lime Tree
- Crossing Hooidonk creek
Why do we want to monitor visitors?
In the municipality of Nuenen, the legacy of Vincent van Gogh is still clearly visible. The environmental vision (2021) of the municipality of Nuenen deliberately mentions this: the municipality chooses to strengthen the Van Gogh experience with respect for the heritage. Van Gogh's heritage may be seen, by visitors to Nuenen but certainly also by its own residents.
The municipality commissioned a study of the carrying capacity and impact of tourism in Nuenen in 2022. At the time of the study, the number of visitors was not considered too high by the majority of residents. It was also indicated that visitors make a positive contribution to the liveliness and bustle in the municipality.
By 2023, the Van Gogh Village Museum has been expanded and renovated to facilitate growth from 20,000 to 50,000 paying visitors. Growing visitor numbers to the Van Gogh Village Museum will increase tourist pressure.
The municipality is working with Van Gogh Village Nuenen and the Nuenen Center Management Foundation to ensure that increasing visitor numbers do not come at the expense of livability. This is in line with the advice in the report of the Council for Environment and Infrastructure (2019) which states that new tourist developments should not be at the expense of livability.
We want to keep control of visitors to Nuenen's downtown area. To do this, however, we need information on how many visitors are visiting and which locations are the busiest. In order to Map the effects of increasing visitor numbers on the village, we will monitor visitors to the center in a simple way.
Why might there be increasing tourist pressure?
The Van Gogh Village Museum was expanded and renovated in 2023 to facilitate growth from 20,000 to 50,000 paying visitors. Growing visitor numbers to the Van Gogh Village Museum will increase tourist pressure. In line with the advice in the report of the Council for Environment and Infrastructure (2019), new developments should not be at the expense of livability.
How does the counting sensor work?
We monitor the visit with telesensors from Robinson.
A counting sensor that records motion with a lidar sensor. Only the movement is counted. Thus, the sensor does not collect personal data. It records whether there has been a movement. Thus, when two people walk next to each other and pass through the signal simultaneously, this is recorded as one movement. For the purpose of this project, this margin of error is fine. After all, we want insight into numbers of visitors and locations that are the busiest. It is not necessary for this information to be complete to the decimal point, but it does give us insights about quantities.
Is this way of counting AVG-proof?
Yes, the counting sensor does not know what it is detecting. It is a movement of a mass through a beam. This mass cannot be traced to a human being and/or personal data.The counting sensor is not a camera and therefore does not record images. The counts are based on movement through an infrared or laser beam. Thus, no personal data or record is used from which it is possible to trace who moved through the lidar sensor's signal.
Does the sensor recognize my phone?
No, the cell sensor detects movement of a mass and does nothing with phone signals.
Do you see the infrared or laser beam?
No, the infrared and laser beams are not visible.
Does the counting sensor make noise?
No, the counting sensor is completely silent.
What do we do with the data obtained?
Throughout 2024, the municipality, Van Gogh Village Nuenen and Stichting Centrummanagement Nuenen together analyze the data that becomes available on the dashboard. We are doing this in order to make the best possible use of the data. In this way the pilot can be adjusted in the interim, if necessary. If it turns out that the quality of life is negatively influenced by the number of visitors, we want to be able to take effective measures. The data provides insight into which measures are appropriate. By keeping a close eye on the data during the pilot, we will be able to intervene at short notice if necessary. The counts are stored and displayed in a dashboard. This dashboard gives us the opportunity to analyze the numbers.
Who pays the cost of the pilot?
The remote sensors will remain in place for one year and are part of the visitor monitoring pilot. We have received a subsidy from the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (NBTC) that provides for the use of the remote sensors for one year. After this first year, the monitoring stops and (administrative) choices still have to be made about a possible continuation of visitor monitoring via telesensors. This obviously depends on the results obtained.