Kortrijk to track visitors through mobile phone data

The city of Kortrijk will collect mobile phone data from visitors to the city through collaborations with telecoms operators, to allow it to make more targeted policy decisions. The city council approved a framework agreement on the topic on Monday.

The operators will analyse the mobile phone traffic of visitors to the city. They can determine where and when someone connects to a cell tower or uses the free wifi network, process the information and transmit it to the city. This data will later be added to that of cameras and wifi sensors.

The city will know how many people visited the city, where they come from, how long they stay somewhere, where they stay the night and park and how they move around. “For example, we will know where our visitors come from and can adjust our promotion campaigns accordingly,” said city councillor Arne Vandendriessche. The information can also be used to solve mobility issues.

Vandendriessche emphasises that visitors’ privacy rights will be respected. “The operators are supervised by the privacy commission,” he said. “They don’t transmit the person who is tracked, only the phone.”

Each phone has a code and the city will only receive information about these codes. The privacy legislation states the transmission of personal data is acceptable if it’s not possible to identify the person behind the data.

The city of Antwerp also uses mobile phone tracking, primarily during major events.