Christmas is a holiday in the Netherlands, and therefore many people are off work and the inner city in Amsterdam becomes crowded. This Christmas period, Amsterdam will be using a crowd monitoring system to ensure safety and prevent excessively busy streets.
A crowd monitoring system has been put in place to manage the flow of pedestrians. This system uses smart cameras and Wi-Fi sensors to measure how congested it is on the streets in areas such as the Red Light District and the Kalverstraat.
The system analyses the data it collects about pedestrian flows, pedestrian routes, time spent dwelling and waiting areas, and enables the municipality and police to make appropriate operational decisions. The data collected cannot be traced back to individuals, thus privacy is safeguarded.
During the weekend before Christmas, in addition to the crowd monitoring system, traffic controllers will be stationed at the Prins Hendrikade and Ode-brug crossing to guarantee a good flow of buses to and from the bus platform.
Social media and digital signs will also be used to inform visitors to the city about parking availability. Furthermore, the traffic management centre will be monitoring how busy the roads are and will stay in contact with the public transport company in Amsterdam GVB.