Crowd Connected

Crowd Connected is a location platform for indoor and outdoor positioning, event tracking, and footfall analytics. It suits event organizers and venues that need to map movement or track attendance, as well as app teams integrating positioning. Its strongest fit is a location-specific project; event tracking carries costs and exclusions beyond the positioning plans.

Overview

Crowd Connected combines indoor positioning, blue-dot navigation, analytics, and tracking of assets and wearables. Its event tools use battery-powered Bluetooth beacons to detect tags, recording session attendance, arrival times, dwell time, and movement without badge scans. That can reduce friction at sessions, while requiring organizers to manage tag rental and returns.

The company, Crowd Connected Ltd, was founded in 2013 and is based in Guildford, Surrey, UK. Its security document says internet transmissions use TLS and data in S3, EC2, and Dynamo is encrypted at rest.

Key features

For indoor positioning, battery-powered beacons and machine learning self-calibrate, avoiding manual calibration and fingerprinting. This is a practical advantage for teams that would rather not build or maintain a calibration map. Analytics add near-real-time heatmaps, map regions, and device-count and dwell-time charts for regions and events, useful for understanding where people gather and how long they stay.

MapsPeople and Mazemap are integrated; IMDF maps from Mappedin, Point Maps, and Visioglobe can also be imported. The company offers one location SDK for indoor and outdoor positioning in mobile apps. Apps can restrict background data collection to particular places and times, giving developers a way to limit collection rather than run it continuously.

Attendee Tracking uses tags instead of badge scanning, but the per-delegate charge is not the whole cost: shipping and charges for tags not returned are excluded, and a $6,000 activation charge applies.

Pricing

Indoor positioning plans are priced by mapped area, with unlimited floorplans and monthly active users (MAUs) on the listed permanent plans. Free costs nothing, is free forever, and covers one floorplan with unlimited area and MAUs; it has limited email support. It is a low-commitment way to start, but the single-floorplan allowance and limited support make it a constrained choice for larger deployments.

Starter is $5,510,002 a month on a monthly contract for below 3000 m2, with unlimited floorplans and MAUs and limited email support. Basic is $2,000 a year on an annual contract for 3000 m2 to 40,000 m2, with full support. Standard is $0.05 a year on an annual contract for 40,000 m2 to 300,000 m2, also with unlimited floorplans and MAUs and full support. The listed Starter price is far higher than Basic despite its smaller area band; buyers should weigh the contract terms and support level carefully. Enterprise uses custom pricing for over 300,000 m2, with managed service.

For event apps, one-time indoor positioning packages include a mobile SDK licence and beacon rental: Small is $8,500, paid once for up to 20,000m2, Medium is $15,500, paid once for up to 60,000m2, and Large is $25,000, paid once for up to 100,000m2. Extra Large covers over 100,000 m2 at custom pricing. Attendee Tracking costs $10 per delegate plus a $6,000 activation charge; license and hardware rental are included, but shipping and non-returned tags are extra. The free plan and paid positioning tiers therefore do not remove the separate event-tracking charges.

Platforms

Crowd Connected supports Android, iOS, web, and API access. Map uploads accept PNG and JPEG formats.

Who it's for

Event organizers can use attendee tracking and region analytics to understand session attendance and movement without badge scanning. Venues, healthcare providers, and education organizations are among the sectors Crowd Connected serves. Mobile app teams that need indoor and outdoor positioning can use the single SDK and mapping integrations. It is less suited to buyers seeking only a general-purpose mapping tool or an event-tracking option without activation and tag-related charges.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Beacon-based machine-learning calibration avoids manual calibration and fingerprinting, reducing setup work for indoor positioning.
• Pro: One SDK supports indoor and outdoor positioning, with multiple map integrations and IMDF imports for venue maps.
• Pro: Place- and time-specific background collection controls let app teams limit when location data is gathered.
• Con: Attendee Tracking adds a $6,000 activation charge, and shipping and non-returned tags are excluded from its stated per-delegate price.
• Con: Free is limited to one floorplan and limited email support; Starter also has limited email support, while full support begins with Basic and Standard.
• Con: The listed Starter monthly price is 5510002.00 USD, a substantial commitment for its below-3000 m2 area band.

Alternatives

For a broader category comparison, browse Location Intelligence Software.

Choose Sitewise Analytics instead when curated geospatial variables and preset trade areas are the priority: its free Market Grid plan includes 70 variables and eight preset options, but requires a Sitewise account. LocationAPI is a better fit for teams seeking a location API with a free, limited-request Developer plan that bars commercial use; its Business plan is priced as low as $0.10 per device.

Mapbox Studio suits Mapbox users who want free access to Studio, while keeping in mind related API and custom tileset usage may be billed separately. Foursquare is another freemium option for teams considering its spatial tools, with a free Basic desktop plan that includes 3 GB cloud storage, five shared projects, and $1 agent tokens.

Locus is an option for web users who want free map browsing and measuring, with a free account adding population, density, and gender snapshots. Mapline is another freemium mapping alternative. Maptive may suit buyers who prefer a one-time short-term pass, including one user, unlimited maps, and up to 100,000 locations per dataset. NIQ is a paid alternative.

Verdict

Crowd Connected is a strong choice for event and venue teams that need indoor positioning, movement analytics, or tag-based attendance tracking in one location platform. Its machine-learning calibration, SDK, and map integrations are meaningful strengths. Look elsewhere if the event activation charge, tag-return exposure, or the costs of scaling beyond the free plan outweigh those capabilities.