The exclusive representative of Gallup International Association and GlobalNR - an international network of market research agencies - needed to reliably monitor the movement of people within residential environments. The project, however, required special tracking, which is different from the general data collection practices.
The goal of the project was to monitor the time that residents spent in specific rooms in 30 flats and to track around 150 participants. However, there was a major privacy concern: it was crystal clear that video surveillance would be unwelcome by the participants. So the challenges were:
- Generate daily reports on the amount of time each family member spent in different rooms.
- Enable simultaneous monitoring of multiple homes, each of different sizes and layouts.
To achieve this goal, the client invited UAB GetGPS to design an IoT-based tracking solution that would provide accurate data without compromising the privacy of the participants or requiring significant infrastructure changes in the apartments.
Solution Overview
GetGPS came up with a good solution using Teltonika TMT250 GPS trackers combined with Bluetooth Low Energy BLE iBeacons. This approach avoided the need for video surveillance and instead used discreet IoT devices. The solution involved several key components:
- BLE tags as position markers: a tag was placed in each home to act as a central marker. These tags communicated with the Teltonika trackers worn by the participants. It enabled real-time location updates as participants moved around the different rooms.
- GPS tracker customization and calibration: to ensure accuracy, GetGPS configured the GPS trackers to detect only the signals from the designated BLE tags. The team adjusted the range and sensitivity of the BLE signals to eliminate "cross-room" inaccuracies that could occur if trackers picked up signals from adjacent rooms or floors.
- Data integration and management: the data collected by the GPS trackers was sent to Wialon Hosting, a fleet and asset tracking platform. From Wialon, the data was passed to Repogen, which generated customized reports. These reports provided comprehensive daily summaries that were automatically delivered to the client for analysis.
Data Collection
The system collected a wide range of data points to support the research needs of Gallup International and GlobalNR. These included:
- exact date, time, location, height, etc. of a tracker;
- time spent by a person in a particular room;
- apartment ID tied to the label with the corresponding number;
- ID of the premises of the apartment;
- built-in battery level;
- tracker charge level sensor;
- sensor indicating when the tracker is being charged;
- Bluetooth tag signal strength.
Results
The people tracking solution delivered meaningful insights to the client, supporting their research objectives with high accuracy and reliability.
- 896 reports over 4 months: the client received detailed daily reports throughout the project. These reports captured each participant’s movement patterns and room-specific data, contributing to a comprehensive view of time spent in various spaces.
- User-friendly, single-screen reports: data was streamlined into a single, easy-to-read report format, ensuring that the research team could quickly analyze the information without needing to navigate complex datasets.
- Privacy and comfort for participants: without the need for cameras, participants felt more comfortable taking part in the study. The data collected was accurate enough to support valid conclusions about time spent in different rooms.
Conclusion
This IoT-powered tracking solution allowed Gallup International’s CIS representative and GlobalNR to meet their research goals in a unique, privacy-friendly way. By blending GPS and BLE technologies, GetGPS and Wialon Hosting successfully addressed the challenges of people tracking without video surveillance.