Facit’s Smart Count software running on Axis Communications cameras enables indoor and outdoor perspective-view people and object counting on the edge. Running directly on the camera itself, connecting to a PC just to show the results for reporting. This is a valuable expansion for Axis who produce industry-leading cameras and an advantageous addition for Facit, an Axis Global Strategic Partner who specialise in CCTV video and image processing software.
In today’s commercial environments people counting is vital for resource planning, optimisation, analysis and forecasting. Whether it’s insights to assess how marketing affects visitor numbers, seasonal changes, capacity, safety, security, sales forecasts or staff scheduling; knowing how many come and go and what they look at plays a big part in the success of physical venues and stores. According to ‘Markets and Markets’, the global people counting market will grow to $1.3 Billion by 2025, with demand increasing across all use cases and notably a rise in edge computing is also forecast by ‘Grand View Research’ who predict that edge computing will have a global compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.4% from 2021 to 2028.
The edge can be defined as processing infrastructure that is close to or at the source of the data capture instead of far away or in the cloud. The advantages of such a set-up are that it increases the speed of data transfer, avoids latency issues, and offers increased data security and easier data protection compliance from on-premises vs the cloud. In this exciting development of Axis cameras directly running Facit’s Smart Count software, it means overall cost saving can also be achieved, as there isn’t the need to buy hardware to run the software; the cameras do the processing for the people counting and a PC, tablet or phone is just needed to see the results. For integrators this can also speed up the set-up time and it can mean less costs for end users regarding both hardware and the engineer’s time.
The architecture of the cameras and Facit’s software is such that the cameras can connect over the camera network with Facit’s Smart Count and Smart Reporting being able to run on the cameras themselves and the results viewable via a url. Cameras across multiple separate store locations can also be configured to collect data and feed it to a central computer for data aggregation and reporting across multiple locations.
In today’s commercial environments people counting and footfall analysis are vital for resource planning, optimisation, analysis and forecasting. In 2022, occupancy also plays a significant role in health and safety matters as social distancing guidelines make building occupancy subject to restrictions.
Read more here: facit/facit-and-axis
