Smart City Expo World 2023
NEWS: CrowdScan Redefines Crowd Monitoring for conference halls with Innovative Density Measurements
CrowdScan recently demonstrated its capabilities at the Barcelona Smart City Expo World 2023. The team's successful implementation of 100% privacy-friendly crowd density measurements at renowned booths, including Microsoft, Flanders Investment and Trade, and a pilot at FIRA Barcelona, received positive feedback underscoring the potential of the system.
During the three-day event, CrowdScan proved its ability to provide valuable insights into crowd dynamics within booths and conference halls. The technology excelled in offering details about peak and off-peak foot traffic times, along with tracking the average duration of crowdedness.
Furthermore, it allowed for a comparative analysis of visitor numbers across different days, aligning them with the initial booth planning.
All this data was presented in clear and understandable graphs, facilitating a quick and precise understanding of crowd patterns. The sample photo below illustrates a graphical representation of the gathered data at the Microsoft booth.
The chart illustrates the number of attendees at different intervals, with the upper threshold set at 240 individuals. Microsoft experienced its peak attendance on the second day of the expo around noon, with a count of 217 attendees. In the 3D model (included at the bottom of this article), various zones are color-coded, designating red for highly crowded, orange for moderately crowded, and green for calm areas.
One of CrowdScan's standout features is its ease of installation. The battery-powered sensors, with a three-year lifespan, eliminate the need for complex cabling and infrastructure. With sensors easily mountable at a height of around 1.5 meters and requiring no line of sight, installation becomes a flexible process.
Ben Bellekens, one of the inventors and founder of CrowdScan, emphasized this advantage: "The only requirement is a power source for the gateway. The sensors can be effortlessly attached to various surfaces. We successfully equipped two different booths and the entrance zone of FIRA Barcelona in less than an hour. The flexibility of our solution was very well-received."
CrowdScan's accuracy was also tested by the client through manual counts, comparing the results with real-time data generated by the system. The outcome was satisfactory, with the client stating that our data accurately reflected what emerged from the manual counts.
At Smart City Expo World 2023, CrowdScan also introduced, together with all the stakeholders from the ecosystem, the Flemish Smart Data Space to an international audience.
LDES stands for Linked Data Event Streams. The LDES server, a configurable component developed as part of this Flemish Smart Data Space project, facilitates the exchange of Open Datasets based on Linked Data principles.
CrowdScan is one of the early adopters of LDES, underscoring its commitment to smart data sharing, publication, and reuse.
A clear 3D visualization of the crowd density at the Microsoft and Flanders Investment and Trade booths, made in collaboration with the Belgian consortium Urban Sense, showcased the practical application of linked data in real time.
Ben Bellekens stated: “It is our ambition to generate crowd data with added value. By combining it with other linked data sources, we can increase contextual awareness in smart cities.”
In conclusion, CrowdScan's performance at Smart City Expo World 2023 highlights its capability to revolutionize crowd monitoring, setting a new standard for accuracy, privacy, and ease of implementation.
We look forward to exploring future collaborations, including with FIRA Barcelona.