Monitoring the movement of people, animals, and vehicles in daily territorial use can significantly improve spatial development, enhancing safety, sustainability, and inclusiveness. Across Ticino canton, many stakeholders, such as regional natural parks, are eager for a system that can provide valuable data on space usage to better manage costs, justify new investments, and handle maintenance activities [1, 2].

During the INSUBRIPARKS Interreg project, a cost-effective prototype was developed to track and count the passage of tourists in specific park areas. The system consists of a device with a camera that, through image recognition and machine learning techniques, collects data that are then sent to a data warehouse based on istSOS [3], an open-source implementation of the Sensor Observation Service (SOS) standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The system fully complies with European GDPR regulations, as it only stores anonymous metadata such as the type of object (person, car, bicycle, etc.) and the object's movement path. No video or images captured by the camera are saved.

Thanks to these features, the device has been adopted also in the Adaptive Space project, funded by the Federal Office of the Spatial Development (ARE). This project aims to develop a protocol with guidelines for the inclusive planning of last-mile mobility.

To this end, two sites were selected as study areas (SA) to analyse the behaviour of citizens who frequently use these spaces. One is located outside the Mendrisio railway station (SA1). This area is occupied by four parking lots and is subject to movements that prioritize pedestrian passage and vehicle flow to and from the station and the city centre. The second site is located at Mendrisio S. Martino, also outside the railway station (SA2). This area is of particular interest because new structures have been built over the past year, impacting pedestrian use due to an increase in traffic from both vehicles and people. In fact, this area is commonly used as a passageway for people heading to the industrial zone.

The methodology involved an automatic detection approach by installing sensors to collect continuous data. Three main data collection campaigns were conducted at each site: one in summer, one in autumn, and one in winter. Since the device has high power consumption, it had to be installed with a battery, as no viable solution was found to connect the sensor to a continuous power source. During the campaigns, the device collected data on the number of detected objects, their classification, and their movements across the monitored areas, using tracking capabilities that gather coordinates frame by frame to monitor the movement of each object. Such data have been validated through manual sampling and, on the other hand, have been provided a broader overview of the usage of the selected areas across different periods of the year.

The analysis developed during this project focused on tracking data coordinates, which proved to be essential for understanding how the objects are distributed across the area and determining where activities are most concentrated, based on the different categories to which each object belongs. This approach results in the generation of heatmaps for pedestrians and vehicles using data from the entire day, as well as filtering for evening and morning peak-hour traffic. The dataset has also been evaluated in terms of data accuracy, as for each object present in the frame, the percent of confidence is archived. By plotting this data through a histogram, it was possible to understand the accuracy assessments of the detected objects from the chosen classification model.

Furthermore, two different analytical methods were applied to the two study areas. In SA1, alongside heatmap generation and accuracy evaluation, the analysis focused on parking areas by calculating the stationary time of detected objects, which helped to assess how these parking areas are utilized by citizens. In contrast, in SA2, a different approach was taken, custom-defined zones were created to analyze object counts and determine the percentage of people or vehicles using specific parts of the area compared to the rest.

In this context, the challenges encountered during the project will be reported, primarily those related to data transmission. Due to the large amount of data collected, it was difficult to transmit everything using only an NB-IoT connection via the MQTT standard, which, due to its low bandwidth, cannot handle the transmission of large amounts of data.

Thanks to this research, new advancements have been made using this device firstly developed during the INSUBRIPARKS project, such as analysis based on object tracking coordinates rather than solely relying on object counts. However, further developments are needed, including the possibility of georeferencing the data, since the current system uses an absolute reference system based on image coordinates, and improving the overall performance of the device. One of the critical aspects in this regard is the video streaming frame rate, which currently ranges from 15 to 19 FPS. A more powerful device, combined with a higher-resolution camera, could achieve 30–40 FPS, which would enhance both detection accuracy and the ability to track object positions more precisely during video capture.

In conclusion, this paper presents and analyses the collected data, along with the preliminary results derived from the implemented methodology, where tracking data served as the raw input for all analyses. This approach is highly promising in providing valuable insights for urban planners to improve the studied areas, enhancing security, and supporting sustainable and inclusive urban development.

The management of protected areas, which are of particular importance within the Ticino River basin both in terms of biodiversity protection and enhancement and in reducing major sources of pollution, is inextricably linked to the sustainable management of water resources. This resource has become even more precious considering ongoing and anticipated climate change.
Prolonged drought periods raise a series of questions regarding the use of water resources for the various environmental and socio economic sectors of the entire transboundary Ticino hydrological system. These concerns cannot be separated from the need to safeguard natural capital, making water allocation a critical issue that requires a transboundary governance approach to ensure a balanced management of the entire Ticino basin. Therefore, the activities of this project aim to analyse, understand, and describe the complex interactions between water, economy, environment, and agriculture within the Ticino River basin. This is particularly relevant in the context of climate change, where water availability is subject to increasing variability, both excess and shortage, compared to past century values.
This project, funded by the INTERREG programme VI-A between Italy and Switzerland CCI 2021TC16RFCB033 with project id 0200112, will help identify potential risks, opportunities, and challenges for the transboundary Ticino basin in terms of policies, management, and water-related technologies. Consequently, it will address issues concerning the environment, biodiversity, ecosystems, pollution, and the socio-economic framework by identifying key challenges, developing, and proposing strategies that can be adopted across the entire transboundary region. These strategies will support a common approach to governance, management, and efficient use of water resources within the Ticino basin, paving the way for climate adaptation and the protection of natural capital and biodiversity through participatory approaches and the use of open, flexible, and sustainable techniques and technologies. The innovative and jointly developed solutions fall within the following intervention areas of the program: promoting nature-based solutions and water resource management in both irrigation and lake environments to improve environmental quality and quality of life; installing new technological tools and/or developing small infrastructures; and developing shared monitoring and data exchange systems, including information platforms and other digital exchange systems.
Additionally, actions to enhance environmental sustainability and resilience will be studied. Nature-based solutions will be developed through pilot areas to foster biodiversity, improve the microclimate, increase water storage via wetlands, and support pollinating insects. Research will also focus on optimizing water resource management by integrating smart, remotely controlled irrigation systems and a sensor network to monitor availability in real time, ensuring efficiency in the face of climate change. Therefore, the project will enhance lake ecosystem quality and biodiversity by improving existing monitoring systems.
These actions will not be developed in isolation but rather in synergy with each other and with project partners. They will also incorporate Citizen Science practices through the creation of communities of practice and learning, open to local stakeholders. The approach considers the hydrological cycle and the water’s journey from upstream to downstream in the transboundary Ticino territory, an interconnected system that enables the development of green areas, ecosystems, agricultural zones, renewable energy production, and related economic activities.
The implemented solutions will be integrated and valorised in a digital story telling WebGIS application that using open standards will manage data and produce publicly accessible information on the state of the three developed solutions and the challenges threatening the Ticino water system. OpenLayers, Geoserver and istSOS4 will be the FOSS4G technologies at the core of this application to make data FAIR using mainly the OGC standards WMS and SensorThings API. In addition to the software tools, the open-source paradigm will also be applied to implement an open datalogger designed to collect data from different sensor providing valuable insights into future project actions and climate change impacts. This open approach will allow the integration of data collected from previous project (e.g. INTERREG SIMILE) as well as from existing networks with new sensors installed within this project, field activities, and information and feedback gathered from stakeholders during public meetings planned as part of the initiative.
The ongoing dialogue among different stakeholders and associated partners of the transboundary Ticino basin will create a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of needs, challenges, and opportunities. It will also enable the initiation of actions and measures to address these needs and overcome emerging challenges, ultimately strengthening climate risk mitigation capacity through transboundary collaboration. Additionally, it will integrate climate change adaptation measures into policies, strategies, and regional planning while improving education and fostering greater awareness.
Finally, the project also aims to develop coordinated training and educational activities to raise awareness among policymakers and local decision-makers about implementing transboundary strategies for the sustainable protection and enhancement of the alpine and pre-alpine environment’s attractiveness. This approach will also be transferable to other regions, serving as a key element in maintaining the sustainable use of land and water resources.