East Lothian Beach Capacity

Sensors are being installed on East Lothian’s beaches to generate real time, geo-referenced, ‘busy-ness’ data.

Deployed through a new App and dashboard, this data will be used by East Lothian Council, visitors, and local businesses to understand where less busy areas are, what activities and facilities they offer and inform data driven decisions.

These data driven decisions are designed to:

1.       Proactively manage the capacity of East Lothian’s beaches with timely diversion signalling by local authorities, to redirect visitors away from potential overcrowded spaces.

2.       Enable visitors to understand where less crowded destinations are, how to get to them, and what other attractions and facilities exist nearby

3..       Potentially create business opportunities for East Lothian’s hospitality and tourism businesses, able to capture spontaneous demand as visitors change their plans and look for alternatives

We are currently installing monitoring sensors at East Lothian’s beaches. These will track capacity at each beach at regular, frequent intervals.

Once capacity has been met, or is close to be met at beaches a mechanism will be triggered to alert the Council and potential visitors. Potential visitors will be directed to beaches with capacity or alternative tourism/hospitality offer in the towns, villages and attractions close by.

Partners: East Lothian Council, University of Edinburgh, EDINA

Current status: Ongoing