Automated traffic counters are the present.
Manual traffic count is no longer convenient, thanks to the increasing number of vehicles everywhere. Additionally, counting traffic manually is a tedious and time consuming task that is prone to human errors.
Now you can use technology that can assist in making traffic counting easier and more accurate. There are smart applications, video surveillance technology, radar technology and several others to count traffic on a daily basis.
Let us talk about the available technological options or automated traffic counters in detail below.
- Mobile Apps – There are several reliable traffic counting apps available that can be accessed on your smartphone device. Crosstown traffic, TurnCount and TrafficDuco are some of the popular suggestions. Using these apps you can set up the assigned traffic count times and send email alerts to volunteers and staff with the time and location of their assigned count. Once the person receives the task, they can open the app and all they have to do is just tap and swipe to collect the bicycle, vehicle and pedestrian data.
- Tube Counts – A lot of companies have taken a step further, where the person taking the count doesn’t have to be physically present on the site. You have perhaps seen the tubes implanted on the roads that count vehicles. It can collect a limited amount of data. Simultaneously, traffic is counted with the help of radar technology, which can be specifically used to count the traffic speed.
- Video Surveillance – There are some companies that also offer video surveillance. How does this work? Through this technology, a company can capture video of a location and later the footage is evaluated by people who capture the counts. This way one can collect the traffic information of a wider area in one go. This saves time and cost, thereby providing accuracy.
- Automation – Automated traffic counters are in vogue. There are some companies that are automating the video traffic count process. KritiKal, a company in India is known for automatically processing video feeds, enhancing the accuracy of the counts and enabling modification based on the count needs. A US based company, PlaceMeter provides a similar service. According to the company, humans can do maximum 82% accuracy in counts. With automated video processing one can achieve accuracy of more than 90%. How do PlaceMeter do it? It sets up algorithms and checks the accuracy of the counts and ensures that shapes are being properly recognized.
How is it possible? How does it work? You can connect to any camera, at a 20 frames per second or more, connected to the internet. For instance, you can have security cameras facing the street from all angles to count traffic. It can also have a sensor installed in a place to measure a particular area. This way one can collect traffic data continuously. You will come to know the traffic pattern, change in traffic as per weather or any special events or happenings. Basically, you can have a more detailed, accurate and reliable traffic data for your reference.
Use an automated traffic counter to assist in your counts and get an error-free report as per your requirement.