The village of Gartness, a popular stopping point at the beginning of the West Highland Way, has become one of the first smart villages in Scotland having deployed new IoT infrastructure to support tourism and development in the local community.

The project is part of a year-long Scottish Government-funded initiative delivered by Glasgow-based CENSIS to demonstrate the transformative potential of IoT across some of Scotland’s key growth industries.

Footfall Counting

At the heart of the project is a series of IoT enabled sensors providing the community with near real-time data on the number of walkers heading towards Gartness and nearby Drymen, via the West Highland Way, helping local businesses to monitor the demand for their services.

On average, around 120,000 people walk the West Highland Way each year, with tourism generating an estimated £5.5 million for the local economy.

Accommodation providers and hospitality businesses rely on estimated numbers to anticipate the popularity of campsites, B&Bs and food and drink venues. However, the new technology counts the number of footsteps on the popular walking trail, with the numerical data available to view online.

Weather mapping and flood monitoring

In addition to counting footfall, the smart network also includes an IoT-connected weather station, hosted at Drymen primary school, and water level sensors deployed on the nearby Endrick Water, which demonstrate a low cost and accessible way for communities to monitor flood risks.

The IoT system makes use of North’s IoT Scotland network, powered by LoRaWAN technology – a wireless wide area network that enables long-range communications between sensors and application servers, using very little power.

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