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The Placemeter Sensor — Count people, bikes, & cars in real-time. Now shipping.
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@gpat_uk that's a great idea and one that drove the initial spark for what Placemeter's become today. Though we're more of a data platform these days, I'd LOVE to see someone create this. We have an API and plenty of support on our end for it to happen.
@davidfine @gpat_uk Apps like uCiC might benefit from an integration with this sensor:
https://play.google.com/store/ap...
Cool concept and congratulations on the launch!
Hey @awinter! Is your sensor compatible with Weave or Eddystone? I can imagine a world where shopkeepers would potentially allow opted-in devices to receive different retail experiences upon detection of that device in proximity of the store. I guess that is moving a bit away from your original intent, or maybe not?
@rajamatage Great point! We focus on counting and measuring activity without identifying anyone or any device, so we typically don't connect directly with Eddystone or other beacon systems. Weave on the other hand could be very useful and we'll definitely look at it! Thanks!
Hi guys, I'm the Founder & CEO of Placemeter. So excited to start shipping the Placemeter Sensor!
Our sensor measures pedestrian, vehicle, and bicycle traffic in real-time. Installation takes 5 minutes, and is easy: all you need to do is stick it on your window and orient the sensor toward what you want to measure. People, bikes, and vehicles create millions of data points on every street, every day. The Placemeter Sensor allows you to access and make sense of all that information.
Can't wait to hear what you think, I'll be here all day to answer any question!
@ryanshook @awinter Hy Ryan! Well it depends what you want to measure :) For pedestrians or bicycles we recommend top of 2nd floor max, 30-40 feet. For vehicles you can go higher up and further away. If you want to measure at a longer range, we also offer off the shelf cameras that stream video to our backend and we process them in our cloud.
Hey, really cool products, there are a lot of opportunities here!
My question is: This looks a lot like what the amazing guys @density http://www.density.io/ are doing! What's your main differentiation here?
Cheers, and congrats for a cool product!
@widawskij Jonathan, great question. Density is a cool product and definitely good company for us to keep. I'm not an expert on Density's offering, but as far as I can tell our main difference is that Density uses an IR beam to count door traffic, while we use computer vision. Placemeter counts door traffic, yes, but we can also measure traffic around many more locations like sidewalks, plazas, parks, and roads. The type of things we can count are a bit different too: Placemeter counts people, bikes, and cars. Our system measures trajectories, so we're also able to give you a precise in/out count if you want, whereas IR sensors only give you one lump sum.
This means that our service can be used for detailed transportation traffic studies just as well as it can be used for measuring door counts for a retailer or restaurant.
Hey @awinter, thanks for joining us today. Placemeter looks awesome.
Quick question - in all of your marketing, it says you can measure pedestrian, vehicle, and bicycle traffic. Does that mean that it is identifying these differently and can give you counts on each as separate counts or just one cumulative count. What about the distance - if I put it on a retail front, is it counting cars that drive by on the street in front of it?
Thanks!
@kevinz Thanks for the kind words! Our core technology is indeed able to recognize pedestrians from vehicles and bicycles. This is not available to all of our customers yet, but we are putting the finishing touches to this feature as you are reading these lines. We like to QA our stuff a LOT before we ship it :).
A little further down, probably in Q1 next year, we'll offer finer classification such as different types of vehicles (trucks, vans, taxis,...) and some basic demographics. Stay tuned!
@awinter Looks great and very useful, but it's a bit unclear from the site that a subscription is required. I almost purchased and was held up on this at the very last minute. As long as the pricing is reasonable I'll be putting an order in for 5.
@daraghkan Hi Daragh! For the first two sensors, we offer all the data for free, without subscription. If you need more sensors, you will then pay a monthly fee per month per point where you measure traffic. Contact us on our website and we'll tell you all about it!
I'm sure you've thought about marketing this product to engineering firms who have pretty sizeable "traffic departments"..?
@agreenwaldhq Yes! This is one of our important use cases - helps engineering firms quantify and understand the impact of their projects, and iterate based on these measures. Makes the world a more efficient place :)
This looks awesome. Will it only work in a window or could I somehow use this for inside an office? I have a small shared office space where it would be awesome to count how many people come and go.
@alexputici Hi Alex - this was not designed for that type of usage unfortunately. You could use some of the cameras we offer though - check out http://www.placemeter.com/sensor for more info!
@awinter Cool product! Wondering how you guys output the data to the user, via a dashboard or raw data? How could I use these for an app, there doesn't seem to be much docs or info on the site. Would also like to know if there are power options for the overseas market (Asia's power outlet). Cheers!
@kelvin___ There is a full API available if you want to create an app - you need to open a (free!) account to see the documentation. You can also consume the data using our dashboard, or if you prefer you an download the data as CSV files. HTH! Regarding power, we support EU, UK, US, JP, Australia, but you can also use any micro USB charger.
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