Okay, so I wanted to build a system to count people at bus and train stations. Here’s how I went about it, step-by-step.
Figuring Out the Basics
First, I needed to think about what I really wanted. Just counting people wasn’t enough. I wanted to know:
- How many people were entering the terminal.
- How many were leaving.
- How many were present at any given time.
This would help, you know, manage crowds and maybe even plan better schedules.
Choosing the Hardware
I decided to go with cameras. Seemed like the easiest way to visually track people. I needed something that:
- Could handle different lighting conditions (day and night).
- Wasn’t super expensive, because, well, budget.
- Could be easily mounted.
I ended up going with some basic IP cameras. Nothing fancy, just reliable.
Setting Up the Cameras
This part was a bit of a pain. I had to figure out the best placement for the cameras. I wanted a clear view of the entrances and exits, without any blind spots. It involved a lot of:
- Climbing ladders (not my favorite thing).
- Adjusting angles.
- Testing, testing, and more testing.
I eventually got it right, though. I made sure the cameras were positioned so that people would be walking towards or away from them. This made the counting part much easier.
The Software Side of Things
Here’s where it got interesting. I needed software to analyze the camera feeds and actually count the people. I’m not a coding genius, so I looked for something pre-built that I could tweak.
I found some open-source object detection libraries. It was a bit of a learning curve, but I managed to:
- Install the necessary software on a small computer.
- Configure it to connect to my cameras.
- Train it to recognize “people” (lots of sample images!).
Making It Count!
The core of the system was the counting logic. I had to write some code that would:
- Detect when a person entered the camera’s view.
- Track their movement.
- Determine if they were entering or exiting.
- Increment the appropriate counter.
This involved drawing “virtual lines” on the camera feed. When a person crossed a line, it triggered the count. It took some trial and error, but I got it working pretty reliably.
Putting It All Together
Finally, I needed a way to see the data. I created a simple dashboard that showed:
- The current number of people in the terminal.
- The number of people who had entered.
- The number of people who had exited.
I also set up some alerts, so I’d get notified if the terminal got too crowded.
The Result
It works! It’s not perfect, of course. Sometimes it misses a person, or counts a dog (oops). But overall, it’s accurate enough to be useful. I can see the flow of people throughout the day, and it’s already given me some interesting insights into how the terminal is used. Plus, it was a really fun project to work on!