The Binnenstadbedrijf Doetinchem (BBD) has been working with the Digitwin dashboard from Argaleo for over a year now, gaining insight into visitor flows, crowding and the impact of events in the city center. In a brief review, city marketer Rowan Stapelbroek shares her experiences: what has it delivered, how is the tool being used and where do opportunities still lie? The collaboration has proven to be of great value for all parties involved: entrepreneurs, property owners and the municipality.
The BBD is a public-private partnership in which the Municipality of Doetinchem, real estate entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from the city center work together. Because all of these parties benefit from insight into visitor flows, crowding and the effect of events, they deliberately sought a suitable tool to reliably map this out. “That is how we found Argaleo, and it turned out to be exactly what we needed,” says Stapelbroek.
The tool is now regularly used at the Binnenstadbedrijf office. “We look at things like: how busy was it on the shopping Sunday? Was the evening shopping well attended? And what was the effect of King’s Day, especially since King Willem-Alexander visited?”
According to Stapelbroek, there is a world of difference compared to the situation before the collaboration. “Where we previously had to guess, we now have clear and concrete data. We can also view origin data of visitors. At the moment this is still limited to the Netherlands, but we hope that in the future German visitors will also become visible, which would be very valuable for our border region.”
The insights are not only used internally but also shared with stakeholders. Stapelbroek: “To keep them informed, I create a video every quarter in which I share the latest data. These videos are intended as a kind of ‘City Center News’. I make them interactive: viewers can indicate what data they are still missing or would find interesting. Their feedback is incorporated into the next edition, making the content increasingly valuable.”
According to Stapelbroek, the collaboration with Argaleo offers not only current insights but also concrete added value in the way the tool continues to evolve. “Argaleo actively thinks along about how we can use the tool even better. As far as we are concerned, this is a collaboration we will continue, and a product we would wholeheartedly recommend to any city center or municipality that wants to work in a data-driven way.”
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