January 2024 - Parks & Recreation - 43

Technology and Parks
and Recreation
Artificial Intelligence
How much of a disruptive innovation
will artificial intelligence (AI)
be for parks and recreation? That is
a burning question for a lot of people
in the park and recreation industry,
and the answer is not clear
yet. However, it can be said with
certainty that AI will affect virtually
everything we do from this point
forward. Here are some of the ways:
AI will enable us to answer phone
calls, respond to the public more
quickly, write speeches, summarize
meetings, prepare reports, count
visitors, monitor building systems,
surveil parks, provide security, plan
new parks and massively save energy.
This is not a years-in-the-future
blue-sky prediction about some faroff
trend. It is already happening,
and at breakneck speed.
AI chatbots are already improving
the efficiency of local governments
in responding to residents'
inquiries. AI algorithms are helping
to process information at rates
much faster than humans can, allowing
faster decision making and
better services to the public. AIassisted
analytics are improving
traffic flow, monitoring community
health and improving public safety,
freeing workers for other tasks and
responsibilities. There is little doubt
that AI will bring disruptive innovation
to parks and recreation on a
scale that we have never seen before.
Privacy, What Privacy?
There are more than 1,000 locationaware
apps tracking your mobile
phone and providing a real-time
location log no matter where you
go. The average smartphone, likely
a device similar to
yours,
has about 25
location-aware apps installed
on it reporting
your location. Some of
these apps report your
location hundreds or
even thousands
of
times a day! This personally identifiable
data is aggregated, matched
with other data, like your spending
habits, purchasing histories and other
very personal data, and is sold on
the open market by more than 4,000
data brokers to anyone who wants to
buy it. It is a $200 billion a year market,
growing by leaps and bounds.
Park and recreation agencies
purchase
might want
to
such
location-aware data about their
customers to better identify who
is using their parks, where people
are coming from, and what they
did before and after they visited
their parks. However, there is a
sharp downside to public agencies
obtaining and using such personally
identifiable information - the
public strongly objects to such invasions
of personal privacy.
But there may be a good solution
at hand. Ian Ross, the director of
Civic at Placer.ai, a location analytics
Grand Prairie
Stadium, formerly
a minor league
baseball park
owned by the
City of Grand
Prairie, Texas, has
been repurposed
as a 7,200-person
cricket-specific
stadium. It is now
the home field of
the Texas Super
Kings of Major
League Cricket.
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | J ANUAR Y 2 0 2 4 | Parks & Recreation
43
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS
January 2024 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024 - Parks & Recreation
