Mobile GR proposes a three-week drone study to collect downtown parking data in Grand Rapids, sparking privacy concerns among some residents.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Maxwell Dillivan with Mobile GR gave a presentation to the Grand Rapids City Commission Tuesday on a proposed three-week study, using drone technology to collect downtown parking data. 

“It allows us to have an understanding of where and when we might have capacity issues when we have some constraints that allows us to have an understanding of where additional parking may or may not be needed,” Dillivan said.

However, residents like Synia Gant-Jordan and Vanessa Epps expressed concerns that privacy may be at risk. 

“We do not want the program abused,” Gant-Jordan said. “We have seen where programs like this kind of go astray. Dollars are allocated for the program, they collect the data, and they end up doing something different with it, the data sits on the shelf.”

“Before, when they were collecting that same data by going out personally to those parking lots and observing throughout the day what takes place, that’s a better way of doing it,” Epps said.

Dillivan said that the city and OHM, the project’s primary consultant, will not be collecting any identifiable data, and the company will only be providing synthesized maps and charts to the city. 

“The drones will be capturing no identifiable information, such as license plates, bumper stickers, vehicle identification numbers, it’s simply going to be recognizing the shape of a car, the color of it, as opposed to manual counts, which take a lot more time, a lot more costly,” Dillivan said.

Those who expressed privacy concerns emphasized the need for transparency in the study.

“I think it would be appropriate to have some community members review what’s happening with the data that they have been capturing,” Gant-Jordan said. “If it’s not data that they say they’re only capturing, if it’s something more than you know, there needs to be something that needs to be addressed.”

The project has a total budget of $185,000, with $30,000 specifically going toward the drone data collection. It still needs approval from the city’s fiscal committee and full commission.