Getting Started with People Counting
Alright, let’s talk about figuring out how many folks wander through shopping centers. Got asked to look into this a while back. Sounded straightforward, you know, just count people. But like most things, it got a bit more involved once I started digging in.
First off, I had to figure out how to actually count them. There’s a bunch of ways people try to do this. Some use fancy thermal cameras, others try to track phones using Wi-Fi signals. Seemed a bit too much, maybe unreliable? I just wanted simple numbers. How many came in, how many went out.
So, I decided to stick with good old cameras. Seemed the most direct way. The plan was to mount cameras looking straight down over the main entrances and maybe a few key spots inside.
Picking and Placing the Gear
Next step was getting the hardware. I needed cameras that were decent in different lighting conditions because mall entrances can be bright or dim depending on the time of day. Went with some dome cameras, the kind you see on ceilings everywhere. They’re pretty standard. Also needed a small computer, like a mini-PC or an NVR box, to actually run the counting software and store the data.
Then came the physical work. This wasn’t the fun part. Involved getting up on ladders, finding spots to mount the cameras right above the doorways. Had to make sure they pointed straight down to get a clear view of people passing underneath. Running the cables was a bit messy, poking through ceiling tiles and all that. Tried to keep it neat, but it’s always a bit of a hassle.
- Checked camera angles multiple times.
- Made sure power and network cables were secure.
- Positioned them high enough to avoid tampering but low enough for a clear view.
Making the Software Work
Once the cameras were up, it was time for the software side. Some cameras come with basic counting features built-in, but honestly, they’re often quite basic and not super accurate. I ended up using separate software loaded onto that mini-PC.
Setting this up involved connecting to the cameras over the network. Then, the main task was defining the ‘counting lines’ or zones on the camera feed. You basically draw a virtual line on the screen, and the software is supposed to count each time a person crosses it. Sounds easy, but getting it right took tweaking.
This part needed patience. Had to adjust things like:
- The minimum and maximum size of an object to count (to ignore small pets or shopping carts, maybe).
- The direction of crossing (only count people entering, or exiting, or both).
- Sensitivity settings, so shadows or changes in light didn’t trigger false counts.
Testing and Tuning Phase
The first few runs were… interesting. The counts were off. Sometimes it counted two people as one if they walked close together. Other times, it missed people entirely if they moved too fast or were right at the edge of the view. Sometimes strollers or big bags got counted.
So, I spent a good amount of time just watching the live feed and comparing it to the software’s count. Made lots of small adjustments to those lines and settings. Moved the virtual line slightly, changed the object size parameters, fiddled with sensitivity again. It was trial and error, really. Had to go back a few times over different days, checking during busy periods and quiet times to see how it behaved.
Getting the Numbers Out
After a lot of tweaking, the accuracy got much better. Good enough for what the shopping center management needed, anyway. The final step was making the data accessible. Didn’t need anything too fancy.
Set up a simple dashboard kind of thing. Just a basic web page that the managers could log into and see the numbers for each entrance, usually updated every hour or so. They could see totals for the day, compare traffic between different entrances, and spot the peak hours.
And that was pretty much it. It started as a simple request but involved getting hands dirty with hardware installation and then spending tedious hours fine-tuning software. It works now, gives them useful insights into their foot traffic patterns. Definitely learned a few things along the way about the fiddly nature of these systems. It’s never quite plug-and-play.