Canon announces software to count crowd sizes in real time

Canon U.S.A. Inc. announced the Crowd People Counter, a video content analysis software that can quickly provide event management teams and law enforcement agencies the ability to gather crowd size data in real-time. The gathering and analysis of this data can help detect overcrowding and potentially prevent accidents at a variety of locations, including stadiums, airports, train stations, houses of worship, and other venues, the company claims. An additional application of the software is the ability to support city planning projects, adds Canon.

“Now more than ever, cities and venues are extremely conscious about crowd control and social distancing,” said Tatsuro “Tony” Kano, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Canon U.S.A.’s Imaging Technologies and Communications Group. “With the current COVID-19 pandemic, it has become extremely important to be able to monitor the density of crowds. Our new Crowd People Counter software can help to manage crowds in real-time and will provide valuable data to help keep people safe once large gatherings and events return.”

Canon says the Crowd People Counter software can detect humans using as few as 15 pixels and is capable of detecting up to approximately 88,000 people in maximum resolution (5472 x 3648) and 9,000 people in Full HD (1920 x 1080), respectively. Designed to aid with event management by identifying trends in crowds, the software data can help to determine the appropriate number of police officers, security guards, emergency medical personnel, and ambulances needed in a given area.

The Crowd People Counter software works in tandem with Canon and Axis Network Cameras and Windows-supported devices using both Webview and VAPIX protocol for live streaming. For greater flexibility, a separate plug-in version of the software, Crowd People Counter for Milestone XProtect, is available and supports live streaming and recorded data from Milestone XProtect. Both versions are now available.