A Deep Learning approach for Path Prediction in a Location-based IoT system

Knowing in real-time the position of objects and people, both in indoor and outdoor spaces, allows companies and organizations to improve their processes and offer new kind of services. Nowadays Location-based Services (LBS) generate a significant amount of data thank to the widespread of the Internet of Things; since they have been quickly perceived as a potential source of profit, several companies have started to design and develop a wide range of such services. One of the most challenging research tasks is undoubtedly represented by the analysis of LBS data through Machine Learning algorithms and methodologies in order to infer new knowledge and build-up even more customized services. Cultural Heritage is a domain that can benefit from such studies since it is characterized by a strong interaction between people, cultural items and spaces. Data gathered in a museum on visitor movements and behaviours can constitute the knowledge base to realize an advanced monitoring system able to offer museum stakeholders a complete and real-time snapshot of the museum locations occupancy. Furthermore, exploiting such data through Deep Learning methodologies can lead to the development of a predictive monitoring system able to suggest stakeholders the museum locations occupancy not only in real-time but also in the next future, opening new scenarios in the management of a museum. In this paper, we present and discuss a Deep Learning methodology applied to data coming from a non-invasive Bluetooth IoT monitoring system deployed inside a cultural space. Through the analysis of visitors' paths, the main goal is to predict the occupancy of the available rooms. Experimental results on real data demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach; it can represent a useful instrument, in the hands of the museum management, to enhance the quality-of-service within this kind of spaces. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.