When I saw an article title "Google Analytics for Physical Environments," my heart skipped a beat. It would be a retailer's dream; it would mark the beginning of accountability in traditional advertising and the beginning of bolder and braver experimentation in the digital one.
It turns out, this is an art project. This fact doesn't diminish its ingeniousness, but it left me wondering how come that we haven't made it a priority to implement some kind of standardized, reliable metrics into our offline environments.
The mechanics of "offline world metrics," seems straightforward enough. Gallery Analytis, as the art project was called, used a mesh wi-fi network and custom-made software. This enabled it to track movements of every wi-fi enabled device at the location. Gallery Analytis is consequently able to offer analysis of visitors movements and extrapolate insights based on it.
Let's get on it, Google!