The city of San Antonio is considering using data collected from cell phones, credit card purchases, internet searches and even their vehicles to track visitors to municipally owned destinations, such as the River Walk. Officials say the information could prove valuable in making decisions about tourism marketing, events programming, crowd control and where to spend more money on capital improvements. The city is testing the waters with a single department.
The Army fought Texas rattlesnakes with poison gas, and the snakes won The Information Technology Services Department is working with the World Heritage Office, which manages Mission Marquee Plaza and the Spanish Governor’s Palace, to identify vendors whose data could be used to count visitors to its events and see where they came from and how much they spent. The department's events include the annual World Heritage Festival, farmer’s markets, movie nights and festivals at the plaza.
students say evidence is missing at SAPD in baby's death case “Privacy has got to be number one,” Whyte said. “I do not want it to surveil our citizens or have it appear like we’re doing so.” None of the third-party data would identify individuals, Hopkins said. Instead, it would include broad demographic information, such as the ZIP code of the visitor’s residence.