Gunung Rinjani National Park Authority Tracks Tourists' Movements During Mount Rinjani Hikes

Mataram (ANTARA) - The Gunung Rinjani National Park (TNGR) Authority is implementing an application to track tourists’ movements periodically as an effort to improve safety and the quality of climbing services to Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

TNGR Authority Head Budhy Kurniawan stated that the smartphone application named Rinjani Beacon is used by all climbers, including guides and porters, starting from the check-in process before beginning the climbing activity.

“Once they log in, we can detect their movements in the command centre at that moment,” he said when interviewed on the Gerbang Mendengar Antara podcast in Mataram on Tuesday.

Budhy explained that monitoring based on the Rinjani Beacon application is one of the steps in transforming climbing services, which previously relied on manual methods, into a more integrated and technology-based system.

Currently, TNGR Authority personnel can monitor climbers’ coordinate points and movements periodically while they are on the Mount Rinjani climbing route.

“As long as the smartphone is on, we can see the moving points. When the phone is off, the coordinate points are not visible, so supporting infrastructure for signal installation becomes very important,” said Budhy.

In addition to monitoring climbers’ movements periodically through the Rinjani Beacon application, the TNGR Authority also implements Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) wristbands used collectively in each group of climbers.

The RFID wristbands are connected to several checkpoints prepared along the climbing route. Each time climbers pass and scan, the movement data is immediately recorded and monitored at the control centre located at the TNGR Authority Office.

“We are applying these two technologies (Rinjani Beacon and RFID wristbands) in this year’s climbing season,” Budhy concluded.