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Kosciusko County panel approves Placer AI subscription to track visitor flows, questions remain on cost and privacy
Summary
The county tourism body approved a sponsorship to license Placer AI location-analytics software in a two-year arrangement, with board members raising questions about subscription cost, contract length and data-collection limits; the vendor performance was described as about 95% accurate by the presenter.
The Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau received approval from the commission to purchase a Placer AI subscription intended to measure where visitors come from, where they go while in the county and how events drive local spending.
Supporters said the software would give objective, repeatable measures to support marketing, grant applications and partner reporting. The CVB representative (Speaker 8) told the board the county’s 2022 tourism economic impact was roughly $272,000,000 and said Placer AI can provide retrospective and real-time reports, citing vendor claims of about 95% accuracy and the ability to analyze data back to 2017.
Board members asked practical and policy questions before approving the sponsorship. Commissioners and attendees probed whether the product would replace or augment the existing event calendar, whether tracking is reliable if device location permissions are disabled, and which partners would have access. The presenter said tracking can be limited when users turn off device location services but also noted vendor demonstrations indicated some apps and partner algorithms can still provide usable signals. Concerns about sample reports were raised by at least one attendee who said some geofenced reports initially undercounted camping areas and that expanding geofence boundaries increased reported totals.
The presenter described the proposed arrangement as a subscription; she said the vendor was offering a two-year contract and a price the CVB characterized as favorable but did not provide a precise dollar amount in the meeting record (the presenter said in discussion it “could be upwards of $50,” with no further specification). Board members emphasized they did not favor multi-year lock-ins without seeing early results; Speaker 8 said the CVB preferred a two-year window to evaluate value.
After discussion, a motion to approve the sponsorship was made and carried by voice vote. The commission recorded no roll-call tally in the minutes; the approval was by voice vote and the transcript does not list individual recorded votes.
Next steps recorded in the meeting: the CVB will proceed with vendor paperwork and follow up with the board about contract terms, user access and reporting expectations.
