Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by juliangregorian » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:44 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #34

Xorlev wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 u…

It'll be interesting to see if Google starts to proactively load balance these sorts of situations - send people on several different routes at once to keep traffic flowing.

Waze does this, and Google owns Waze.

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

#42

Post by fbr » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:48 PM UTC

Looks great! It could be very nice with public transportation, so I'll be able to know beforehand which wagons are not overcrowded.

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

#43

Post by sbuccini » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:48 PM UTC

Our student consulting group, Optimir, worked with Density to test their product around UC Berkeley's campus. It's a fantastic product, and we're really excited to get these installed permanently in libraries, coffeeshops, and weight rooms around campus.

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

#44

Post by sultanofsaltin » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

jordanmessina wrote: post #31

crindy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Right, the increase was on the webpages that included Density to show seating capacity.

Is that sustained website growth since then? Also can you make that distinction clearer on the site? It's definitely misleading some people.

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

#45

Post by saosebastiao » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

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.

How much accuracy do you lose when people are dressed up in full winter gear?

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

#46

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:53 PM UTC

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…

[deleted]

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

#47

Post by bgilroy26 » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

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…

There is a policy on the backend of google maps to diversify the best routes they suggest to users. It's like A/B testing where they show different responses to users who make the same requests

This article is about Waze, but I can remember reading the same thing about google maps:

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-california-com... (Ctrl-f "variety")

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

#48

Post by grundleborg » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #34

Xorlev wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 u…

It'll be interesting to see if Google starts to proactively load balance these sorts of situations - send people on several different routes at once to keep traffic flowing.

This problem is an active area of academic research in the transport operations/planning field. It's generally known as "concentration and overreaction".

A classic example would be if a road is severely congested, and satnavs started advising drivers to take an alternative, smaller road, if too many people get the same advice that road will then end up even more congested and delay the people who followed the advice to change routes even more.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/42747332?seq=1#page_scan_tab_con... is a good starting point if you are interested in reading more about this area.

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

#49

Post by daenz » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 5:06 PM UTC

sultanofsaltin wrote: post #36

Don't camera systems beat this in pretty much every way? http://www.placemeter.com/ comes to mind. You don't have to resort to infrared sensors in order to provide anonymity, but they do inherently limit you potential accuracy and metrics you can prodive. It all comes down to where the data is processed and what is made available. Also, cheap camera components are coming down fast due to economies of scale, not sure…

From the landing page:

  Camera: Real-time, Accurate
  Break Beam: Anonymous, Accurate
  Density: Real-time, Anonymous, Accurate, Cheap

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

#50

Post by escobar » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 5:10 PM UTC

jordanmessina wrote: post #31

crindy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Right, the increase was on the webpages that included Density to show seating capacity.

I also find this particularly confusing/misleading - since you deal mainly with physical locations (often called sites by owners), using the word "site" instead of "web traffic" seems odd. Also, listing a web based metric as large as 950% without any type of time interval really kills the true significance of that metric.