Website Forecasts Tourist Congestion In Kyoto Based On Wi-Fi Access

Kyoto is regarded as the cultural capital of Japan and with good reason. It was once the actual capital of the country in addition to being the emperor’s residence. There’s lots to see and experience in Kyoto which is why tourists visit the city in huge numbers. An experimental website has been set up to forecast tourist congestion in the city based on their Wi-Fi usage.

The congestion forecasts will be based on Wi-Fi access by mobile device users in the popular Arashiyama district of Kyoto. The idea is to prevent overcrowding during the autumn foliage and drive the tourist business to other parts of the city by inviting visitors to those locations.

It’s a project by the land ministry’s Kinki District Transport Bureau and the Kyoto Municipal Government as well as its tourism association are supporting it. City officials say that this is the first project of its kind in Japan which utilizes visitors’ Wi-Fi usage to forecast congestion.

The Kyoto Arashiyama Travel Guide website is available in both Japanese and English language. Visitors can check the congestion predictions by selecting the date and duration of their visit after the pick a location among eight areas in Arashiyama. A bar chart is then displayed with an hourly estimated congestion from 7 am to 8 pm. The website will be live until December 17th. Its future use will be decided by operators later.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web