HVAC Control – Utilizing public foot traffic data to optimize air quality and energy use in buildings

Foot traffic data can be used at the beginning of the workday to optimize the startup and ramp-up of an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system. This could increase comfort and lower energy bills.

BestTime provides foot traffic data for public venues like shops, malls, restaurants, and museums using mobile GPS signals. Therefore, no expensive counting sensors or renovations are needed. This data can also be used by third parties using the software API to optimize buildings at scale.  The foot traffic data includes a forecast for every hour of the week. Some popular venues also have live data available. This shows how much more or less busy a building is compared to the foot traffic in the past few weeks for that hour.

The foot traffic (footfall) data and building carbon dioxide (CO2) levels usually correlate in buildings. Therefore, the foot traffic data can also be used to optimize ventilation without the need to install CO2 sensors. During the recent pandemic, it became of extra importance to ventilate buildings due to the spread of COVID-19.

BestTime provides foot traffic data for popular public venues in most countries around the world. All the data from the BestTime platform can also be integrated into your business using the BestTime software API. BestTime only provides relative foot traffic data and no absolute visitor numbers. This is still a cost-effective scalable method for the above-mentioned use-cases.

Besides optimizing the HVAC system, foot traffic data can also be used for different use-cases.

Staffing

As your occupancy counts fluctuate, so does the need for staff. Making the most of your human resources can help you better serve your customers while avoiding paying staff to stand around. This is possible with a better understanding of your foot traffic trends.

More information

Please contact us regarding your use-case. Also check out the BestTime.app website and the demo.