Venice Will Now Spy on Tourists

Venice&rsquos problem with over-tourism is quite well-known by now. Each year, tourists throng the city in large numbers causing huge traffic jams and other associated problems for residents.

In order to curb these issues, Venice has started to count the number of visitors and also tap into their mobile phone signals in order to cut down congestion at major tourist spots. 

According to media reports, tourism councillor Paoloa Mar said it had become imperative to monitor the flow of visitors to Venice, that attracts around 60,000 tourists a day. 

'The system will use a mix of sensors, cameras and WiFi to constantly monitor the situation with a data release every 25 hundredths of a second,' he said. 

The new system is equipped with intercepting data from phones to determine where people have come from and their period of stay. A total of 34 sensors have been installed across the city which can detect and identify whether adults or children are walking underneath. 

These sensors have been installed at major tourist destinations such as historic bridges, museums, plazas as well as transit routes. In the future, they will also be able to detect the level of pollution.

The sensors have also been installed to coincide with the ongoing carnival in the city. 

'The information is processed in the smart control room by dedicated software, which can then return information on the density of people present at a specific moment and their speed of movement. In this way, we can predict at what time pedestrians will arrive at a certain critical point and divert them to another area in advance, so as not to clog or block pedestrian traffic&rsquo, the reports added. 

The local council also added that the procedure will be carried out with &lsquoabsolute respect for privacy&rsquo.