Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API

Post by afar » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 7:14 PM UTC

dfine wrote: post #87

afar wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious. Particularly with your new sensor. It sounded like much of the video processing happens on the unit itself, meaning faces never reach Placemeter servers. Is it accurate to say that you're only getting counts and movement data? My other question is how you derive count without uniquely identifying someone. If I'm entering a shop and a PM sensor sees me, will it know when I leave?

Great questions. 1) the processing is happening aboard the sensor, counts are what are sent back to the servers 2) we don't do unique identification like that. We use object detection, which is different than using unique biometric markers like face detection. That means that we can track a person or a car within a frame of view, but not if they exit and re-enter the frame like in the case you described. Does Density…

Post by Flammy » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

berberous wrote: post #90

Animats wrote: post #76

The site is rather vague. They provide the hardware and install it for free, which implies they're selling data to someone else. Who? There's no privacy policy. No terms of service. The "order" button just brings up a blank email. How does the device tell how many people are present based on counting at a doorframe? Is it counting people passing through the door? Does it detect direction? Is it good enough to estimat…

Hardware/install is free, but costs you $25/month/location to receive your data. (Not that this means they are not also selling data elsewhere).

Post by Smushman » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 7:21 PM UTC

escobar wrote: post #88

noxryan wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was also wondering about its ability to determine the direction of traffic. If it relies on a location having a separate entrance and exit, that's a pretty big negative. I'm also wondering how it handles large groups. Does anyone have any idea how the hardware works?

There's not much actual information available (this should be concerning), but there have been some clues dropped into past HN threads. This is a picture posted in another HN thread of their "original sensor" which is just 2 basic IR sensors: https://s3.amazonaws.com/screenshots.angel.co/73/340163/7982... As far as I can tell from the updated website, the new sensor is the same thing, just dressed up nicer. Each sens…

Post by pkelchte » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 7:21 PM UTC

thwest wrote: post #61

pkelchte wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you would wear metamaterial stealth suits maybe you can avoid being detected by our IR sensors, we're curious as to what you have available!

Incredibly accurate and anonymous seem to be at tension here. A discussion on your signal processing would be illuminating.

Post by dfine » Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 7:24 PM UTC

afar wrote: post #91

dfine wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great questions. 1) the processing is happening aboard the sensor, counts are what are sent back to the servers 2) we don't do unique identification like that. We use object detection, which is different than using unique biometric markers like face detection. That means that we can track a person or a car within a frame of view, but not if they exit and re-enter the frame like in the case you described. Does Density…

That's really interesting. Given a certain level of granularity, would it be possible for a person to have a unique object signature? I guess at that point, you'd just use a face. Just curious. No wifi pinging. After Apple almost killed us a year ago with their MAC address policy change and we realized there was significant push back on privacy, we dropped the technology altogether.