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Ask HN: What is the use of a pedestrian couting system?

2 points by melbourner ↗ HN
I came across this dataset for Melbourne city on data is plural http://www.pedestrian.melbourne.vic.gov.au/

What purpose does this serve? Some of the objectives are listed on the website but continuous monitoring doesn't make much sense to me - to assess and respond to current needs and forecast future demands to improve walking in the city - to assess and address risks associated with walking - to better understand the environmental impacts and benefits of walking - to inform emergency response planning

Are there any other major cities that are doing this?

5 comments

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bitxbitxbitcoin
Potentially dumb questions: Is that for people crossing a street or just straight up seen on a street? Do they have dedicated cameras for this or is this using say red light or speed cameras?

Potential social use: As for the use, it should be pretty useful for urban planning. Which street would benefit most from a pedestrian bridge/walkway for example.

melbourner
From their website 'A sensor is installed under an awning or on a street pole to form a counting zone on the footpath below. It records multi-directional pedestrian movements through the zone, 24 hours, every day.'
thinkingemote
Daytime population estimates. How do you know how many people are in an area? What times of day has higher traffic flows. Etc
davelnewton
* http://www.govtech.com/data/People-Counting-Cameras-Are-Watc... * https://www.fastcompany.com/3025926/one-company-is-trying-to... * https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/new-ways-of-counting-pedest... * https://www.eco-compteur.com/en/solutions/pedestrian-monitor...

Etc. It's either happening, or would like to happen, all over.

Why? You can't understand what you can't measure. From city planning to business locations to traffic signals to targeted law enforcement to... If you don't know where people are you can't do anything except guess what should be done.

sfopdxnonstop
This seems obviously useful to me; I'm confused by your confusion. City planners want to know how people move around cities, it's fundamental to their efforts, it's primary source data. It's the same as a code profiler to programmers: "Oh, is THAT why it's slow?"