Traffic-Counter.org is a volunteer group gathering vehicle traffic data. Our intent is to help citizens, businesses, and policy-makers understand when and where traffic enters an area, how it flows, and how it leaves.
To do this, we build measurement devices (like traffic cameras), place them in locations provided by the volunteers, and analyze the recorded data.
We are based in Palo Alto, California.
To contact us, please send email to webmaster at traffic-counter.org .
The first traffic camera unit has been built and installed. If all goes well with this one, several more units will be built and deployed in the next few weeks. The current plan is to leave each unit in position for a week, then move it to a new spot to increase coverage.
As this data-gathering phase proceeds, we will be writing software to analyze the recordings and to visualize the results.
Model 0 records 1280x960 video at 25 frames per second in H.264 format. The video is color during the day and black-and-white (with limited infrared illumination) at night. It has a pan/tilt/zoom unit that can be controlled by a computer on-site. Although it includes wireless networking hardware, it's configured as a standalone system so that it will operate when no network is available. In theory it could record audio as well as video, but the current unit has no microphone. The electronics unit consists of a Raspberry Pi 3 B in a weatherproof box.
Here's a look at the camera and electronics enclosures on a rooftop mount:
A closeup of the electronics box:
The unit installed on a roof:
