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Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

density.io

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Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#21

Post by dhaivatpandya »

Fantastic product idea and a landing page that's so good that I figured out what the product does without touching my scroll wheel.

I wish however, you'd include a section that provides a reasonable explanation as to why Workroom got a 950% increase in traffic. I'm thinking that if I saw that a place was full, I'd be less likely to head over there. But, if I didn't know, I'd probably give it a whirl. Alternatively, if I've gone there a bunch of times and it's always been full, I just wouldn't go. What exactly is happening?

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#22

Post by nikolaj »

codeshaman wrote: post #7

>> "After adding Density, we saw as much as a 950% increase in site traffic to supported locations. Our users love it." - Darren Buckner, Workfrom CEO When I use google maps, it shows me how busy various roads are and it also chooses the fastest route based on how fluid the traffic is. Seems like google maps is just observing the world and making decisions based on those observations. Now I was wondering, what if all…

I totally had that same thought when using google maps to navigate LA.

I wondered what happens when you enter some sort of harmonic oscillation of people trying to evade traffic with alternate routes matching the delay of Google re-routing them.

The easy fix would i guess be doing a round-robin of alternate routes..

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#23

Post by valarauca1 »

jordanmessina wrote: post #8
wehadfun wrote: post #4

What communications protocol is it using?

We're using infrared sensors to detect ingresses and egresses from locations.

How does the solution handle multi-ingress/egress points?

Could it be used for tracking population leaving during a fire drill? As often this is the first question asked by first responders, "Is anyone still inside?"

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#24

Post by deutronium »

jordanmessina wrote: post #20
deutronium wrote: post #14

Does this use PIR out of curiosity, or are you using an emitter, receiver in one package.

We’re using infrared sensors. Both the emitter and detector are on a single sensor, so we only affix our hardware to one side of a doorframe. This is different than break beam which requires hardware on each side of a door.

Gotcha, yeah that makes sense, as it'd cut down the number of individual packages you'd need for the system.

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#25

Post by Xorlev »

codeshaman wrote: post #7

>> "After adding Density, we saw as much as a 950% increase in site traffic to supported locations. Our users love it." - Darren Buckner, Workfrom CEO When I use google maps, it shows me how busy various roads are and it also chooses the fastest route based on how fluid the traffic is. Seems like google maps is just observing the world and making decisions based on those observations. Now I was wondering, what if all…

> Wouldn't it mean that google maps is influencing and even creating the traffic patterns ?

I'm pretty sure I've observed this in the wild. Occasionally there's a major accident on a freeway in Denver that totally stops traffic. People that know the area well enough hop off the first exit they can and find the most straightforward way over to a major arterial road running in the same direction. Maps sometimes comes up with the theoretically-fastest route that requires lots of turns through neighborhoods, so you'll see a whole conga line of cars piling through suburban streets and congesting the whole area.

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#27

Post by Xorlev »

staz wrote: post #19
codeshaman wrote: post #7

>> "After adding Density, we saw as much as a 950% increase in site traffic to supported locations. Our users love it." - Darren Buckner, Workfrom CEO When I use google maps, it shows me how busy various roads are and it also chooses the fastest route based on how fluid the traffic is. Seems like google maps is just observing the world and making decisions based on those observations. Now I was wondering, what if all…

I thought Google Maps used the Android phone location to know the busy road?

And anyone actively using maps.

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#28

Post by tehwebguy »

nikolaj wrote: post #22
codeshaman wrote: post #7

>> "After adding Density, we saw as much as a 950% increase in site traffic to supported locations. Our users love it." - Darren Buckner, Workfrom CEO When I use google maps, it shows me how busy various roads are and it also chooses the fastest route based on how fluid the traffic is. Seems like google maps is just observing the world and making decisions based on those observations. Now I was wondering, what if all…

I totally had that same thought when using google maps to navigate LA. I wondered what happens when you enter some sort of harmonic oscillation of people trying to evade traffic with alternate routes matching the delay of Google re-routing them. The easy fix would i guess be doing a round-robin of alternate routes..

Yeah it seems like at some point you'll end up in a traffic "bubble" where you don't actually get the "fastest" route but the one that thinks will make the roads fastest for everyone.

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#29

Post by crindy »

dhaivatpandya wrote: post #21

Fantastic product idea and a landing page that's so good that I figured out what the product does without touching my scroll wheel. I wish however, you'd include a section that provides a reasonable explanation as to why Workroom got a 950% increase in traffic. I'm thinking that if I saw that a place was full, I'd be less likely to head over there. But, if I didn't know, I'd probably give it a whirl. Alternatively, i…

I think the idea would be that this helps fill dead times. If the place is full, they don't need/want more people showing up just to be turned away. If the place is empty, then they want to advertise that to fill it back up.

Also though, I think it was a 950% increase in traffic to the web pages powered by this product, not to the actual locations.

Re: Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

#30

Post by afar »

valarauca1 wrote: post #23
jordanmessina wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're using infrared sensors to detect ingresses and egresses from locations.

How does the solution handle multi-ingress/egress points? Could it be used for tracking population leaving during a fire drill? As often this is the first question asked by first responders, "Is anyone still inside?"

So that's a really novel idea. It would be incredible to tell a first responder how many people we think are inside... accurately.

We just do installs at each entrance and then normalize.

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