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Township staff recommend PlaceYourAI geofencing subscription after review of six platforms
Summary
Staff presented findings from a review of six geofencing/location‑intelligence platforms and recommended PlaceYourAI for ongoing subscriptions; Cobalt/Community Research was offered as a lower‑cost, one‑off reporting option.
Township staff reported to trustees on April 8 that a review of six geofencing and location‑intelligence platforms found PlaceYourAI the most comprehensive option for tracking foot traffic, event attendance and visitor origin data.
Lisa Brown introduced the presentation and said the board had asked staff to explore geofencing tools to help analyze park amenity usage, transportation and event planning. Michelle Cohen and Katie Giloffas presented the findings and compared features, costs and data sources.
Michelle Cohen summarized the review: "PlaceYourAI...it is the most expensive option," she said, but she told the board the company provides real‑time foot‑traffic data, unlimited reporting with a one‑year subscription and many civic customers. Cohen described PlaceYourAI’s data pipeline as anonymized location data collected via apps that is aggregated and modeled; she said the vendor reports about 90% accuracy when compared with first‑party sources such as traffic counters and point‑of‑sale data.
The presentation highlighted use cases: event attendance and origin/destination flows, parks and amenity use (example: pickleball court usage), retail leakage analysis comparing West Chester to Liberty Center, and return‑on‑investment measurement for park enhancements. The staff report said Cobalt (Community Research) is useful for occasional, one‑off reports (quoted at roughly $895 per report) but that Cobalt had relied on PlaceYourAI data historically and is changing providers.
Trustees asked clarifying questions about data privacy, law‑enforcement access and cost. Staff said PlaceYourAI anonymizes data and the platform would not be available to law enforcement under the proposed use. Michelle Cohen noted she had negotiated a 15% reduction on the subscription price during vendor talks.
Trustees expressed general support for an acquisition that provides unrestricted agency access to reports and multiple user logins, citing internal GIS capabilities and multiple potential uses across departments. No formal purchase motion was recorded at the meeting; staff left the board with the recommendation to pursue PlaceYourAI for comprehensive, recurring location intelligence and Cobalt for occasional reporting needs.
