The community of developers at Koelnmesse and Samsung SDS introduces a new product for future trade fair events: To keep the trade fair experience in the age of the coronavirus a safe one for exhibitors and visitors alike, they have developed an indoor-positioning system (IPS) that monitors the numbers of persons and their movements throughout the halls, providing its findings to attendees in real time.
„The new app, „eGuard“, is one element of our effort to ensure professional safety at the highest level while creating an environment in which the spirit of encounter and business can thrive once again“, Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse, announced.
„Originally intended as a digital service offer in the trade fair sector, after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we responded at once and strengthened the system’s security capabilities. Once again, what we have here is not an off-the-shelf solution but a system individually developed to meet the needs specific to Koelnmesse“, according to Taewon Song, Vice President of B2B Solution Business Europe at Samsung SDS. A combination of geomagnetic field and beacons is used, so that eGuard goes far beyond the functionality and accuracy of systems previously used on the market. No personal data are collected.
The data anonymously analysed by IPS will help track movement flows, visitor frequencies, dwell times and other positioning data. An attendee using the app can call up a display of the visitor frequency in individual halls, for example. The app compares hall sizes and the numbers of people present and marks these in colour. App users also receive a dynamic display of their own location. Equipped with this information, each customer can adjust his or her own trade fair visit, if necessary avoiding halls with higher visitor densities or visiting them at a later, quieter time. eGuard gives Koelnmesse a way to take steps to prevent or disperse large groups of people.
For the app is to deliver accurate information about visitor density at the event location, its use is mandatory for all people throughout their stay on trade fair grounds and must be actively running in the background of the smartphone.
