MODELLING WORLD 2022 SHOWGUIDE
Data capture: an innovative video-analytical solution Tracsis, in partnership with Vivacity Labs, has developed a new video-analytical solution for capturing both volume and speed utilising AI technology. By Nick Mather By utilising the same AI technology seen in a permanently fixed AI road sensor and applying it to post-processing of video footage from temporary and ad hoc installations, Tracsis has a new offer that could tackle a gap in the data market as well as address potential limitations to standard data capture. Video footage of any site can be postprocessed through the system and accurately capture the volume and speed of all vehicle classes as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The solution has been benchmarked to within acceptable thresholds against temporary radar installations and pneumatic tube detection devices installed on the road. Nick Mather, Business Development Director and Group Marketing Lead at Tracsis says: ‘The AI software that the method uses, detects, classifies and tracks road users seen in the video. Using the AI portal, two speed lines are drawn across the image of the road environment to define the area of speed measurement. ‘The software uses the real-world distance between the two lines and the width of the road. This information allows the software to calculate a perspective transformation to map an object’s detected locations into a real-world coordinate frame. From this, it is possible to calculate the speed of each individual object. The system was in development for six months with rigorous testing before being made live in June 2021. ‘We have carried out a range of tests on sites in a mix of environments, including residential roads, trunk roads and rural roads. We have found the AI Portal to be within 5% accuracy in comparison with a pneumatic tube counter.’ Says Claire Stephens, Associate Director at VLC and a modeller herself: Traffic counts and journey times are key inputs to base year model validation. I remember my graduate days of counting vehicles in the freezing rain – we’ve certainly come a long way since then. ‘With an increasing focus on active modes, we must also find better ways to
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obtain similar data on cyclists and pedestrians, and also emerging modes, such as e-scooters.’ A trial in a busy residential 20mph road in central London compared the system against a radar classifier, as well as the tube counter. Carried out on 21 January 2021, when conditions were dry, the trial observed a strong correlation between the ATC tubing, radar and the Tracsis AI Portal. While the profiles of speed match across the 24hr period, there was a marginal difference in average speeds, with the tube reporting around 20mph, radar 23mph and AI Portal 19mph across the full survey period. Mather argues that Tracsis’ method is safer than installing tubing, which can also break and provide a safety hazard in themselves, and can be used where tube installation is not possible such as on high speed roads. There is no requirement to enter the live carriageway as the camera can be installed from a roadside position. A camera also potentially provides greater flexibility for installation points than a radar installation and can be used over bridges or other areas where the cost of other traffic management
solutions could outweigh the cost-benefit ratio of a project. This method offers extended classifications over tube counters in the case of cycles and pedestrians, and the footage can be used to inspect spurious or anomalous data. For instance, if a van was parked on the road for a long time, the pneumatic tube system would have no way of knowing what had caused the anomaly in the data, whereas with the camera footage can be inspected to check such unexpected results. Mather explains how the solution was developed: ‘The software platform is essentially the same as the one we would use in a hard wired sensor but a hardwired sensor is a long-term investment, only really deployed for long-term solutions. ‘A lot of clients told us they wanted a temporary solution; for instance, they just needed to survey 50 locations for a week. With the video analytical solution, we can install the cameras quickly, say 10 minutes per camera, and then start putting the data through the system. ‘A week’s data usually requires a fiveday turnaround for our report, but the actual processing takes minutes.’ The solution can also be used to postprocess existing footage from previous projects and more insights are possible using the AI Portal, including path traces. These elements could be used in combination with Tracsis’ Conduit Data Hub, which collects, stores, and presents data to help solve common reporting challenges. After launching a historic data hub during the COVID lockdowns to help with traffic analysis for ongoing projects, Tracsis now provides a continual data hub service for data processing, retrieval and interrogation. n Nick Mather is Business Development Director & Group Marketing Lead, Tracis www.tracsistraffic.com
