Carbondale Alerts
City of Carbondale Leverages Placer.ai for Smarter Planning and Economic Development
CARBONDALE -
The City of Carbondale is pleased to announce its continued use of Placer.ai, a location intelligence and foot traffic data platform, to support strategic decision-making and community development. This innovative tool provides valuable insights into visitor behavior, public space usage, and market dynamics through anonymized mobile device data—helping the City better serve its residents, visitors, and businesses.
Placer.ai enables Carbondale to analyze how people move through and use key public spaces, events, and commercial areas, allowing for more informed choices around planning, resource allocation, and business development.
“Placer.ai gives us the ability to understand how our community spaces and services are being used in real time,” said Stan Reno, City Manager of Carbondale. “From planning city improvements to evaluating the impact of community events, this data helps ensure we’re investing resources where they’re most effective to continue city growth while maintaining strict standards for privacy.”
Primary Uses of Placer.ai by the City of Carbondale Include:
· Prioritizing upgrades and funding for park and trail planning
· Supporting business recruitment and retail attraction by demonstrating foot traffic patterns
· Assessing future operations at public facilities like the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station (SIMMS) to adjust staffing and hours based on real usage
· Evaluating and justifying event investments and improving tourism promotion strategies
Privacy and Usage Guidelines
The City of Carbondale is committed to protecting the privacy of residents and visitors. The use of Placer.ai adheres to the following key principles:
1. Aggregated, Anonymized Data:The platform provides statistical data only—no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected or shared.
2. Restricted Use Areas: Placer.ai prohibits reporting on sensitive locations such as schools, places of worship, rehabilitation centers, medical facilities and military installations.
3. Regulatory Compliance: All data partners must obtain user consent in compliance with privacy regulations.
How to Protect Your Location Privacy
Though Placer.ai does not collect data directly from individuals, those interested in managing their location privacy can take the following steps:
1. Limit App Location Access via iOS or Android settings
2. Opt Out with Data Brokers (e.g., Oracle, Cuebiq, Near, SafeGraph, LiveRamp)
3. Restrict or Remove Apps that require constant location access
4. Reset Your Device’s Advertising ID
5. Use a Privacy-Oriented VPN or Tracker-Blocking App
How to Protect Your Location Privacy
Opting out of having your location data collected and sold typically involves several steps, since companies like Placer.ai do not collect data directly from individuals, but rather receive aggregated, anonymized data from third-party mobile apps and data providers.
From Placer.ai Privacy FAQ:
"We never collect data directly from users. We work only with app partners who obtain consent for data sharing and comply with privacy regulations."
If you want to prevent your data from reaching Placer.ai, your best course of action is to limit sharing at the app level and opt out through the third-party data providers.
For more detailed instructions, or to learn more about Placer.ai’s data practices, please visit: https://www.placer.ai
For additional information about the City’s use of location intelligence, contact the City Manager’s Office at 618-457-3226 or visit www.explorecarbondale.com.
For media requests contact:
Eva Fisher
618-713-0711
“Carbondale prides itself on providing its visitors, students, businesses and residents with a unique mix of edge and ease. It’s a cultural town, yet free of pretense, embracing the great outdoors as readily as urban sophistication. Here, we are open to new ideas, experiences and cultures, so you are encouraged to both express yourself and be yourself, in all ways. That’s Carbondale…All Ways Open…for family, fun, business, new ideas and a bright tomorrow.”
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