Comparison

Simplaq vs Springboard (MRI OnLocation Footfall)

MRI OnLocation Footfall — the product line that includes the former Springboard — counts and analyses visitor traffic. Simplaq is a digital experience and operations platform. These are complementary systems, and this page says so plainly rather than pretending they compete.

Last reviewed:

Quick Summary

1
Different jobs: footfall analytics measures visitor movement; Simplaq runs the channels a center uses to act on it.
2
MRI publicly describes AI-driven footfall analytics using existing camera networks, covering visits, dwell, conversion and market trend comparison.
3
Simplaq does not count footfall with sensors or cameras. It reports on what happens in its own channels — content, touchpoint interactions, campaigns.
4
Most centers keep a dedicated counting provider and use a digital platform to act on the insight.

What is Simplaq

Simplaq is a digital experience and operations platform for shopping centers and business centers: the public website and content, visitor-facing engagement, in-mall screens, kiosks and wayfinding, and the tenant-side workflows around them — administered from one back office.

What is Springboard

Footfall counting and location analytics

MRI OnLocation Footfall Analytics is presented as footfall intelligence for retailers, property owners, public bodies and facilities managers, combining AI-powered algorithms with existing camera networks to turn visitor activity into insight. Its published metric set includes foot traffic and occupancy, location traffic outside the store, conversion rate, market trend comparison, average transaction value, customer age and gender, store capture, and movement and dwell. It sits within the wider MRI OnLocation suite alongside people-presence products.

Public information

Who Simplaq is for

  • Teams that need to change something on site or online: content, offers, wayfinding, screens, tenant communication.
  • Centers consolidating website, content operations and in-mall touchpoints in one platform.
  • Operators who want interaction data from their own digital touchpoints alongside their footfall counts.

Who Springboard is for

  • Operators who need accurate, comparable visitor counts for reporting, benchmarking or lease and service-charge purposes.
  • Teams that need dwell, capture and market-trend comparison across locations.
  • Portfolios standardising measurement methodology across many sites.
Simplaq interpretation

Operational differences

  • Measurement source: footfall analytics derives counts from cameras and sensors; Simplaq reports on digital interactions in its own channels.
  • Decision loop: counting tells you what happened at the door; the digital platform is where you change the message, the offer or the route.
  • Contract type: counting is sold as a per-site measurement subscription; a digital experience platform is a content and touchpoint deployment.
  • Comparability: benchmarking against a market index requires a provider that maintains that index — that is a reason to keep a specialist counting vendor.

Category-by-category comparison

Each row states what Simplaq does and what the vendor documents publicly. Rows are labelled so you can see how strong the evidence is.

Deployment model

Public information

Simplaq

Cloud back office per property plus installed kiosks and screens where in scope.

Springboard

MRI states the analytics work with existing camera networks; the product is part of the MRI OnLocation suite.

Footfall measurement

Public information

Simplaq

Not in scope. Simplaq does not count visitors using cameras or people-counting sensors, and does not publish a market footfall index.

Springboard

Core. MRI documents AI-driven counting from camera networks, with occupancy, dwell, capture and conversion metrics.

Analytics scope

Public information

Simplaq

Analytics on the center’s own digital channels: content performance, touchpoint interactions, directory searches and campaign activity in enabled modules.

Springboard

Analytics on physical visitor behaviour in and around locations, including trend comparison across a wide measurement network.

Acting on the insight

Public information

Simplaq

The published channels themselves: website content, offers and events, screen playlists, wayfinding content and tenant notices.

Springboard

Positioned as decision support — insight and predictive analytics — rather than a publishing or engagement channel.

In-mall screens, kiosks and wayfinding

Public information

Simplaq

Included as platform modules with shared tenant, offer and event data.

Springboard

Not documented as part of the footfall analytics product.

Integrations

Public information

Simplaq

Integrations are scoped per deployment through the platform API. Bringing footfall figures from a counting provider into internal reporting is possible where that provider exposes an interface and the customer authorises it — it is agreed during implementation, not assumed.

Springboard

Integration options depend on the customer’s MRI licensing and contract; the public product pages do not publish a connector list.

Enterprise controls and governance

Not publicly documented

Simplaq

Role-based access, single sign-on where required, activity logging and approval before publication; governance terms set in the service agreement.

Springboard

Not detailed in the public product material.

How to read the evidence labels

  • Public informationTaken from the vendor’s own public material, listed under Sources. It may change without notice.
  • Not publicly documentedWe found no public vendor documentation on this point. Confirm it with the vendor before deciding.

Best fit

Choose Simplaq if…

  • You already know your traffic numbers and need the channels to act on them.
  • You are consolidating website, content and in-mall touchpoints.
  • You want interaction data from kiosks and screens next to your counting data.

Choose Springboard if…

  • You need reliable, comparable visitor counts and benchmarking.
  • Dwell, capture and conversion measurement drive your leasing or service-charge conversations.
  • You are standardising measurement methodology across a portfolio.

Migration considerations

1
Do not treat this as a replacement decision by default. Check whether anything you rely on — counts, benchmarks, historical trend — exists only in the counting platform.
2
If you do change counting providers, expect a methodology break in the time series; plan a parallel-run period so the two datasets can be reconciled.
3
Confirm data ownership and export rights for historical counts before any contract change.
4
Agree who owns the reporting definition — “visits”, “dwell” and “conversion” are defined differently by different vendors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Simplaq count footfall?
No. Simplaq does not count visitors with cameras or people-counting sensors. It reports on activity in its own digital channels, such as touchpoint interactions and content engagement.
Can Simplaq replace Springboard / MRI OnLocation Footfall?
Not for measurement. If you need accurate visitor counts, dwell and benchmarking, keep a specialist counting provider. Simplaq addresses a different part of the problem — what you change once you have the numbers.
Can footfall data be shown inside Simplaq?
Where the counting provider exposes an interface and the customer authorises access, footfall figures can be brought into reporting as part of a scoped integration. This is agreed during implementation; we do not claim a ready-made MRI connector.
Is Springboard the same as MRI OnLocation?
MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall product line is the current home of the former Springboard footfall offering, which is why searches for Springboard now lead to MRI material.

Methodology

Comparison intent: an operator using footfall analytics wants to know whether Simplaq measures footfall, replaces the counting vendor, or does something different.

Statements about MRI Software (MRI OnLocation, formerly Springboard) come from the vendor’s own public pages listed here and are labelled accordingly. Where we found no public documentation, the page says so instead of guessing. Statements about Simplaq describe functionality available today. We do not compare another vendor’s pricing, because their commercial terms are not public.

Compare against your own scope

Bring your requirement list and we will walk through it item by item — including the parts Simplaq does not cover.

Disclaimer: Competitor feature descriptions are based on publicly available information and may change. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. Last reviewed: .