Since the opening of Perth’s Elizabeth Quay in late January this year, thousands of visitors have flocked to the waterfront to marvel at the impressive design, breathtaking views, and colourful light shows featured in the new development.
At Culture Counts, we’ve had the opportunity to engage with visitors at Elizabeth Quay to better understand the impact of the city’s new project. The platform has helped to capture place-based insights from the public, using a set of place metrics developed through consultation with local governments, redevelopment authorities and developers. Visitors to Elizabeth Quay were surveyed to find out whether the waterfront destination made them feel safe and comfortable, whether it reflected the unique and authentic character of the area, and whether it provided a sense of vibrancy and community connectedness.
A huge 3,712 public survey responses were recorded through teaming up with Technical Services Group (TSG), a specialist IT company that focuses on designing, implementing and supporting temporary and permanent IT solutions.
TSG worked with Elizabeth Quay place managers, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA), to set up complimentary public Wi-Fi throughout the precinct. During the month of February, a total of 9,164 users utilised this complimentary Wi-Fi at the Quay. Users signing in to free Wi-Fi were directed to a short Culture Counts survey upon completion of their login, and asked to complete several questions. Although the survey was not compulsory, the responses showed that numerous visitors were willing and happy to provide both positive and negative feedback about their experience at Elizabeth Quay.
TSG’s Hotspot Analytics dashboard captures dwell times, popular spaces within the venue and repeats visitation numbers. The collaboration enabled this hotspot data to be combined with Culture Counts intrinsic survey data to gain a more comprehensive understanding of user behaviour and provide MRA with deeper and more meaningful insights.
It is exciting to see more public areas begin to set up complimentary Wi-Fi hotspots, bringing with them innumerable benefits for both Wi-Fi users and the organisations and businesses that will prosper from an increased outflow of data analytics. As a result of this growth in data accessibility, precinct managers will have the evidence they need to direct limited funds to plan interventions and investments that will maximise business success and create places where communities and culture thrive.
Main image source: It’s Official: Everyone in the World Has a Phone – http://www.gsmnation.com/
