San Nicolás shopping center in Antioquia installs a counting system based on Vivotek

In each of the six pedestrian entrances of the center has been installed an SC8131 network camera that are linked to each other with vivotek Vast video management software. Its assembly has been carried out at a height of 3,6 meters and at a distance from the entrance of 5 meters so they are able to discriminate objects by their height. In addition, its high resolution allows people's shadows to be differentiated.

Traditionally, counting people in malls is done manually and is carried out by security personnel, mission to ensure public safety and protect mall ownership.

To accomplish this task, security personnel use a pushbutton that activates when a person enters the building. However, have other tasks to attend to, which prevents the full effectiveness of this counting process.

In shopping malls it is important to take into account the number of people who visit them, in order to determine the flow of traffic and its potential customers, and even to determine issues such as renting high-traffic premises. In addition, there are another set of decisions that are made based on counting metrics such as infrastructure and events. However, using security personnel for this task the end result is not satisfactory.

This is the challenge faced by the san Nicolás shopping center in Antioquia (Colombia). The distributor, Icontronix had already worked with this client, in charge of the installation of a complete safety system integrated by the fire control system, CCTV (Cctv), surround sound, speakers and implemented the monitoring center.

For this reason, the mall management asked the company to provide them with a counting system that would respond to their requirements. “We made an offer with two or three variants on the market and Vivotek was elected, because their cameras incorporate a counting function and robust reporting software”, points out Carlos Sanchez, Icontronix marketing manager.

A two-phase project

The project was carried out in two phases. The first established the infrastructure, integrated by wiring, Pipes, switches and communication elements; and the second phase focused on installing the cameras.

The solution has been implemented in the six pedestrian entrances of the shopping center, giving each of her a Vivotek SC8131 network camera. These are linked to each other thanks to vast professional video management software from the same manufacturer.

"Each camera independently collects its statistics that are sent to the server from there to be exported in different formats. Great efforts were made to ensure that the camera's performance parameters were met, since so the percentage of accuracy would be around up to the 98%. In this way, we have conducted tests with people walking hugged and the cameras have been able to detect that they were two people”, Sanchez says.

The cameras are mounted at a height of 3,6 meters and at a distance from the entrance of, Approximately, 5 meters so it is able to discriminate objects by their height. For example, supermarket carts are not detected as people. Its high resolution also allows to differentiate the shadows of people.

“This camera has two lenses and therefore works with a kind of triangulation, that allows the perception of depth as the eyes of humans”, explains Sanchez.

Moreover, manager Icontronix also stresses that the reports generated by the Vivotek system can be organized according to the needs of the client. “We have one accountant per camera, so it's possible to know the number of people passing through each entrance, for all entries or for two certain entries. A variety of options are available to suit any need”.

Cristian Gomez, Vivotek Colombia country manager says this mall is the first to have implemented this solution. “We have several similar projects underway across different countries that have different scenarios and therefore different requirements”.

The expectations achieved have been made possible by the combination of the camera and the Vast software. In addition, when it's the camera that performs the tests, server workload eased, which makes this more affordable. This is a customized solution, that doesn't require a lot of output bandwidth. The camera is regularly powered by the data server, but it doesn't require a lot of bandwidth as the volume of data needed to report the count is not very large.

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