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Gage Development Coalition pitches 'Gauge Connect' app, Placer AI data to help Beatrice attract visitors and businesses
Summary
Caleb Fioni of the Gage Development Coalition demonstrated Placer AI geofencing analytics and proposed a countywide 'Gauge Connect' app to centralize events, tourism itineraries and civic notices; council members raised privacy and governance questions and asked for a vendor demo.
Caleb Fioni of the Gage Development Coalition told the Beatrice City Council that Placer AI geofencing and visit-metrics can help the city measure event attendance, evaluate downtown retail gaps and produce business-outreach reports.
Fioni said the analytics platform provides visit counts, repeat-visit metrics and so-called 'void analysis' to identify business types likely to succeed in a trade area. He described a county tourism and civic app called Gauge Connect that would combine event listings, an AI-based itinerary generator and a public-facing civic layer for bulletins such as road closures or severe-weather notices.
Fioni described pricing and scope for Gage Development Coalition's use of the software: "For Gauge Development Coalition, the cost is $19,000 a year," he said, adding that the product can backdate to 2019 to provide pre- and post-COVID benchmarks. He said the coalition could provide logins for local partners or the city could obtain separate access; adding additional organizations or users would raise the price.
Council members asked whether individual businesses could post events directly and who would govern what counts as an "event." A council member raised privacy concerns about using aggregated phone-location data, saying the analytics could feel like "stealing our data from our phone." Fioni and staff said the vendor aggregates and anonymizes data, excludes devices under 18 for privacy reasons, and that the coalition intends to use the information for public-good reporting and grant support rather than targeted advertising. Fioni offered to arrange a short vendor demo and suggested a working version of the app could be available by late in the year if an ad hoc committee moves quickly.
The council did not take formal action on the app at the meeting; members asked staff to return with details after the city's strategic plan is further developed and to schedule a vendor demonstration.
