On busy summer days, tens of thousands of people visit the beach in Scheveningen. In this crowded environment, parents and children can sometimes lose sight of each other temporarily. This creates distress and puts pressure on emergency services and local businesses that help reunite families quickly and safely.
To improve this process, a web application is being developed to support reports of missing children on the beach and boulevard in an efficient, careful, and privacy-conscious way.
On warm days, visitor numbers can reach up to 180,000. In these conditions, children occasionally get lost, requiring significant effort from the police and lifeguard services, often at the expense of other tasks.
Existing measures, such as wristbands and meeting points, provide insufficient support. Earlier solutions, like a central child collection point, proved difficult to implement. The current collaboration through a WhatsApp group also poses risks in terms of privacy and completeness of information.
The web application is intended to speed up and secure the process of reuniting children with their parents or guardians. It supports a coordinated approach with improved privacy and instantly accessible information. Reports are registered centrally, providing insight into the number, locations, and duration of incidents, which can also support prevention efforts.
This use case is an initiative of the Safety Directorate of the Municipality of The Hague and is facilitated by the SHIELD innovation hub, where the municipality and police collaborate on technological innovations in the safety domain.
The Scheveningen district ( Actieplan Kust programme) acts as the client and funds the development and management. Through a negotiated tender procedure, an agreement was concluded with NoLongerLost to develop the web application.
The implementation is carried out in close collaboration with various partners, including beach entrepreneurs, the Haaglanden Safety Region, the Hague volunteer lifeguard brigade, and the police.
Contact person: Suzanne Kalf (suzanne.kalf@denhaag.nl). For general information, please send an email to Living Lab Scheveningen via smartthehague@denhaag.nl.