People counter using camera

[toonwolf]

Does anyone have a suggestion for people counting using camera? The reason why I need this is to count the number of people looking at a Digital Signage TV. The camera is mounted just above the Digital Signage TV. This information can be used to sell advertisements. I have contacted the developers of Blue Iris, but they replied that there are no plans to implement this in their software. There is a People counter plugin for iSpy http://www.iplugs.eu/iplugs/counter/ but that would mean that I would have to install iSpy together with Blue Iris.

This is a picture of the Zavio D7111 mounted on top of the Digital Signage box


This is a snapshot from the camera


At the moment I'm triggering recording using motion detection, but that means I will have to manually count the number of times recording was triggered.

 

[n4gry]

Does anyone have a suggestion for people counting using camera? The reason why I need this is to count the number of people looking at a Digital Signage TV. The camera is mounted just above the Digital Signage TV. This information can be used to sell advertisements. I have contacted the developers of Blue Iris, but they replied that there are no plans to implement this in their software. There is a People counter plugin for iSpy http://www.iplugs.eu/iplugs/counter/ but that would mean that I would have to install iSpy together with Blue Iris.

At the moment I'm triggering recording using motion detection, but that means I will have to manually count the number of times recording was triggered.

If all you need is a ruff count BI can kind of do that. You can go to the status Icon at the top and then on the second tab "Cameras" you can find the information for all the cameras. Motion, Alerts and more so in a way it will count how many times it has been tripped.

View attachment 545

Just a thought.....

Note: you can clear that information with the button at the bottom / or it will reset if the program is closed and reopened...

 

[toonwolf]

@n4gry you're brilliant! This will totally work. For now I can count it manually each day. I've sent a feature request to Ken asking if they will consider implementing logging to file for the camera window aswell. Then I could automate logging and get all the statistics I want.

 

[vector18]

Would it count people just walking past the TV, but not watching the advertisments?

 

[n4gry]

You could control that by changing the make time for the motion.. You could make it 2-3 seconds.

 

[toonwolf]

I got a reply from Ken and the log-file does actually record motion detection. Now I only need to adjust the motion detection settings so it does not record "false positives"

 

[paarlberg]

Are you in Hamar? Great little town, stayed a week or so there (and Brumunddal) with some friends about 25 years ago.

 

[networkcameracritic]

Not sure a camera is the right tool for the job. It's going to just get any movement going by, it can't distinguish between someone passing by momentarily or stopping by to watch. What you may want is some help from people that are familiar with the Raspberry PI or the Arduino. Then with a pressure mat in the location under the display maybe hidden under a welcome mat, you can code a program that determines how long someone stands on it, and then you can not only get the counts, but show the amount of time people watched before leaving. This will add way more value than a camera and be cheap.

 

[toonwolf]

Are you in Hamar? Great little town, stayed a week or so there (and Brumunddal) with some friends about 25 years ago.

Yes I live in Hamar. Moved back to my hometown about 7 yrs ago..

 

[toonwolf]

Not sure a camera is the right tool for the job. It's going to just get any movement going by, it can't distinguish between someone passing by momentarily or stopping by to watch. What you may want is some help from people that are familiar with the Raspberry PI or the Arduino. Then with a pressure mat in the location under the display maybe hidden under a welcome mat, you can code a program that determines how long someone stands on it, and then you can not only get the counts, but show the amount of time people watched before leaving. This will add way more value than a camera and be cheap.

Ended up doing a manual count and also made a video that will be used for getting sponsors aboard
If we need more people counting I will be checking out other options like you say Raspberry PI or Arduino. OPENCV looks interesting awell https://github.com/mgalushka/pedestrians-traffic-calc

 

[paarlberg]

I don't even need a translator for the video and I understood it. :headphones:

 

[icerabbit]

Does it include a live feed from the camera above?

A fair number of people seem to be paying attention to the cam. Or could help to get more people to pay attention

Probably don't want to highlight people walking right past to potential sponsors ...

 

[icerabbit]

I don't even need a translator for the video and I understood it. :headphones:

Yeah, but your name ends in "...berg" so it must be genetics kicking in

Sorry couldn't resist. :frog:

 

[paarlberg]

LOL, not even close. Paarlberg is a mountain in South Africa near Cape Town in a small town called Paarl. :toung:

Just happen to have a bunch of Swedish and Norwegian friends.

 

[icerabbit]

LOL ... Sorry about that. It was just an attempt at being funny as I thought your name was P. Aarlberg Used to be able get Tuborg and Carlsberg; travel to Scandinavia and it is like all names end with ...son ...berg ...quist Of course there is berg too in Ducth / Flemish. Allthough the Dutch & Flemish "bergen" in their country are more like molehills. Haha.
Anyway. Carry on!

 

[paarlberg]

No harm done, I am just a redneck from Atlanta. eaceful:

 

[icerabbit]

 

[soundkite]

Can you set motion alarm to take a snapshot each time it's triggered? Then, you could just pull up a thumbnail list of the images, eliminate false positives, and get a more accurate count.