Ventura Port District, a picturesque seaside destination in Ventura, California, chose Skyfii’s AI driven SaaS platform to deliver actionable analytics to aid in leasing, infrastructure, business, and operational decisions. This independent special district located within the City of Ventura is home to Channel Islands National Park as well as exceptional facilities, events, and services. This district incorporated Skyfii’s IO Insight product powered by vehicle and pedestrian camera data.
These highly accurate AI cameras analyse high-resolution scenes, measure speeds, and count vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians. Understanding counts and dwell time of visiting pedestrians and vehicles allows Ventura Port District’s Business Operations Manager, Todd Mitchell, to showcase the marketability of open tenant spaces.
Ventura Harbour derives approximately 87% of its revenue from leasing activities. A significant portion of this revenue comes from Ventura Harbour Village where Ventura Port District acts as a master tenant. There are around 65 direct lessees including restaurants, retail, and office tenants. “The need for accurate visitation data helps us attract prospective tenants. When businesses understand the potential of our location based on visitation data, it establishes a demand. Not many of our competitors have visitation data to support their leasing rates,” explained Mitchell.
Vehicle and pedestrian data allow Mitchell to help his prospective tenants make an informed decision about leasing within Ventura Harbour Village. Mitchell added, “In every case, our prospective tenants shared that access to our vehicle and pedestrian data helps them make a stronger business decision and supports their business plan. This data also helped us reduce our vacancy to zero. We no longer have to wait to fill an available rental space. Prospective tenants come to us and that’s added value.”
Skyfii’s IO Insights reporting tool makes it simple to visualise data on pedestrian, bike, and vehicle counts for days of the week, month over month, year over year, as well as hourly averages across specific time periods. Ventura Port District uses these reports at monthly meetings with their Board of Port Commissioners. Mitchell mentioned how essential these reports are, “The Board commended the value of our reporting data. I use these reports to show vehicle counts entering the harbour as well as peak hours, days, and months. This helps us determine future planning needs.”
IO Insight also helps Ventura Port District’s marketing team understand the ROI of their special events. Mitchell explained, “Our marketing department can measure the impact of their events based on our visitation and pedestrian numbers. We saw pedestrian numbers double or triple for some of our events. Our parking lots were full and we noted a much longer dwell time.” Mitchell’s team further uses their pedestrian and vehicle data to determine event hours. “We can expand our event impact beyond our peak hours. We can start or end our events outside our peak times, as determined by our data.”
Insight from pedestrian and vehicle data provides the foundation to make informed infrastructure decisions and optimise city planning. The data is integral in understanding which areas are the most congested, where improvements are needed, and the effects of those improvements. For example, Ventura Port District is working with the City of Ventura to contemplate road improvements on Spinnaker Drive, the road that runs through Ventura Harbour. “Our data is an important part in planning and justifying those infrastructure changes,” explained Mitchell.
Ventura Port District’s historical trend data is also fundamental to the planning of future development projects. “We are in the process of a redevelopment on the other side of the harbour where we lack data. Once we add additional sensors, I expect the additional data and trends will be very effective to help these new developments attract additional businesses,” said Mitchell.
In addition, Ventura Port District is exploring managed parking which could include charging for parking. “Our data shows our busiest times of day and days of the week, which will help inform when to charge for parking and potentially how much. Assuming it moves forward, we would be in a position to adjust rates based on demand and the trends we observe,” Mitchell said.
The Ventura Port District is excited about the potential to add more data inputs to provide additional benefits to the harbour visitor experience. From measuring the impact of retail marketing campaigns to alerting harbour staff and business partners when peak visitation numbers are reached, the district looks forward to continually innovating with data.
Skyfii is extremely pleased to provide solutions to help deliver an impactful experience for Ventura Port District. “We are thrilled to be able to work with this one-of-a-kind location. Since Ventura Port District operates financially and administratively separate from the city, this partnership provides a unique opportunity for the district to make data driven decisions. They can provide a more enjoyable visitor experience and deliver genuine benefits including attracting the right tenants and making infrastructure changes that benefit the whole harbour precinct. We are grateful for the partnership and look forward to continuing to collaborate on innovations that will help ensure Ventura Harbour remains a top tourist attraction for years to come,” said Wayne Arthur, CEO of Skyfii.
Interested in how Skyfii can help your city harness data to make impactful leasing, infrastructure, business, and operational decisions? Request your free demo.