Mayor Gary Bradley said this would be accomplished by purchasing data that phone companies already collect.
KEWANEE, Ill. — The city of Kewanee is looking into options for tracking residents’ movements via their cell phones.
Kewaunee Mayor Gary Bradley said the city is considering whether to partner with a company called Placer.ai to track local phone calls. Bradley said this could be done by purchasing data that phone companies already collect.
The goal of the partnership is to learn what the most popular areas of the city are, Bradley said.
“The system creates heat maps, showing where certain numbers of people are located and giving ideas about areas that may be better suited for development or redevelopment than others,” Bradley said.
But Bradley said the AI option is completely anonymous, so the city won’t see any personal information, phone conversations or internet searches.
The tracker will also enable the city to plan future business projects.
“From an economic development standpoint, being able to look at those numbers and understand what the market is like helps us attract retailers to the area,” Bradley said.
Abigail Beckett, of Galva, said she thinks the city should use a simpler method for collecting data.
“We just go around asking people what they need in town and how we can help the town,” Beckett said.
But overall, Bradley said the AI tool shouldn’t be viewed as particularly problematic.
“I think people need to understand that they’ve already given permission,” Bradley said. “We’re not tracking them, but the perception that the government is abusing its power and tracking their movements is certainly a concern for people.”
Kewanee would start working with Placer.ai for $15,000 a year, and it’s still deciding whether to move forward with the plan.
