County considers technological innovations

From geofencing to aerial photography, Sweetwater County is seeing the impact of technology and considering its potential uses for the future.

During Tuesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners heard updates from the Sweetwater Events Complex and from County Assessor Dave Divis that included information on how technology is being used and could be used.

Sweetwater Events Complex Director Kandi Pendleton spoke to the commissioners to give an overview of how the Events Complex has been doing, including updates on money that was brought in last year and upcoming events for this year. She shared that the 2023 economic impact was just short of $18.5 million dollars, up 15% from last year, most of which was direct visitor spending.

"Obviously when those people are here they're spending money at all the different locations," Pendleton said.

During her presentation, Pendleton explained that last year the Events Complex was able to use geofencing technology to track visitor numbers by working with and getting reports from Placer AI.

Placer AI is a company that uses an algorithm to examine visitor trends by tracking visits to a location and separating visitor counts from employee and resident counts. Geofencing is a technique that creates a virtual perimeter around a location that can be used to see how often and how many people visit that location. It uses technologies like GPS to find data that can be used for marketing.

Using geofencing, the Events Complex staff determined that there were 359,800 visits to the complex and 82,900 unique visitors during 2023. They also had 94,200 visitors on site during the week of the county fair.

"The geofencing works," Pendleton said. "You have to be on the ground for a minimum of seven minutes in order to be counted in that number, and you're only counted once. So, really really interesting, almost alarming, what kind of information they can give you about where you've been and what you do."

Placer AI also shared information on what visitors to the Events Complex do and where they go before and after their visits to the site.

Commission Chairman Keaton West commented that this is "disturbing," which Pendleton agreed with, but both made their comments with a laugh, and Pendleton said it is "really cool information."

Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism has also started working with a geofencing company, and the Events Complex will be working with them to get numbers about certain facilities, Pendleton explained.

In a recent letter from Travel and Tourism CEO Jenissa Meredith, it was explained that Travel and Tourism is "partnering with Datafy, a cutting-edge visitor behavior tracking platform, to unlock valuable insights and elevate the Sweetwater County experience."

Meredith added that Datafy adheres to strict privacy regulations, collecting anonymized location data only, safeguarding individual identities and complying with all data protection laws.

"Of course, we're approaching this responsibly," Meredith said. "AI is a tool, not a replacement, and we'll always value the human touch. But by strategically integrating it into our marketing mix, we can attract more visitors, deliver unforgettable experiences, and ultimately, boost tourism for our beloved Sweetwater County."

Another opportunity to use technology within the county was presented by Assessor Dave Divis during the commission meeting. Divis discussed the possibility of the county paying to use a product called Eagle View, which provides aerial photography for government entities. The technology could be used to allow employees in the Assessor's Office to conduct appraisals using aerial photography instead of doing physical on-site visits.

"The big reason I'm doing this is safety," Divis explained of his desire to use the program. "There's a huge cost savings that comes with this, but that's secondary."

Using Eagle View would keep employees out of potentially dangerous situations and would save time, money, and effort, according to Divis.

The Department of Revenue pays for Eagle View technology to be used in populated areas, Divis explained. However, his desire is to use the product for the entire county and to cover unpopulated areas in order to do oil and gas equipment reviews. He also pointed out his belief that the technology could help other county departments, such as Planning and Zoning.

Eagle View would require $1.55 million to cover the areas being considered.

"I understand it's a big investment," Divis said, "but this is just the first step."

Getting this aerial photography would provide a base layer in order to be able to use the technology to its full potential in the future, according to Divis.

The commissioners expressed hesitance over the cost of the technology and the potential for having to pay it off over time and pay more in the future to continue using it. Commissioner Robb Slaughter noted that it's hard to make a decision before the new budget is set, and said it is something that can be looked into more.

"I think there's a lot of benefit to this potentially, and I could certainly support it," Slaughter said. "I just don't have enough information right now."