Big data technology applications are becoming increasingly widespread. This year's Pingtung Lantern Festival achieved remarkable results, backed by Chunghwa Telecom's big data technology, which enabled visitor count estimates and crowd flow analysis with nearly 100% accuracy. The collected data can also be applied to smart transportation and tourism development.
This year's Pingtung Lantern Festival delivered outstanding results, attracting a cumulative 13.39 million domestic visitors and generating business opportunities exceeding NTD 13 billion. The lantern displays were also invited to participate in exhibitions in Denmark, Malaysia, Japan, and other countries. Behind this lantern festival — hailed as the "most beautiful in history" — lies the technological support of Chunghwa Telecom's big data analytics, bringing together traditional lantern festival culture with technology and intelligence.
Chunghwa Telecom's big data crowd flow analysis technology was applied to this year's lantern festival. Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Cheng Yu pointed out that through big data technology, the accurate number of attendees at any large-scale gathering can be estimated with close to 100% accuracy, making it more precise than previous measurement methods.
Cheng Yu explained that the method primarily involves tracking how many people at the venue are using Chunghwa Telecom mobile phones, then applying the company's 35% market share to extrapolate the total number of attendees. Adjustments are also made based on demographic characteristics — for example, the proportion of government employees using Chunghwa Telecom SIM cards is relatively high, and such factors are factored in to improve accuracy.
Lin Rong-Ci, General Manager of Chunghwa Telecom's Data Branch, noted that big data technology can also analyze where the majority of the crowd came from, their gender distribution, and even estimate the direction of traffic flow when the event ends, enabling traffic management arrangements to improve traffic flow.
At the 2018 Lantern Festival, Far EasTone Telecommunications also applied telecom big data to conduct daily visitor count statistics and analysis for the lantern festival activities, helping the Chiayi County Government monitor crowd flow information in real time and adjust activity resource planning and arrangements accordingly.
Tseng Shih-Yuan, Executive Vice President of Far EasTone's Enterprise and International Business Group, stated at the time that telecom big data has the characteristics of broad coverage and real-time availability. Overseas, it has already been applied at many large-scale events as a primary data source for crowd flow detection, helping with crowd safety management, event planning, resource allocation, evacuation planning, and achieving early warning and management.
After the lantern festival concluded, the big data analytics team used data such as high-density crowd areas and dwell time to analyze the interest preferences of domestic and international visitors, gaining deeper insight into visitors' travel behavior within Chiayi — including their travel chains across various attractions and accommodation choices — as well as mobile browsing preferences from apps or websites. This data can also serve as a decision-support tool for future lantern festivals or large-scale events, providing the Chiayi County Government with references for future tourism marketing or transportation planning adjustments, and enhancing domestic and international tourism capacity.
This article is from Central News Agency