Monocular vs. 3D People Counters-How Retailers Track People Traffic in Their Stores

People traffic counter devices help retailers

understand what is going on inside their stores including customers’ traffic

paths and shopping patterns, effects of in-store marketing activities, and measure

conversion rates, which is a vital piece of information for businesses’ future.

There are various people traffic counters in the

market, which retailers can employ such as single lens (monocular) and 3D

stereo vision cameras. Both of these people counter devices have their strengths

and weaknesses in terms of accuracy, imaging and price.

Monocular Video Analytics – (Single Lens Sensors)

Monocular people counter devices have only one built-in lens in them that catch people’s images and analyze them. The major difference here is that, the device catches the image through a single lens and either process it in itself or send it to a central server or an in-store server for analysis.

Single lens people counter devices can measure up to 90% accuracy, but unfortunately they have a very important shortcoming, which is depth. Because these devices consist of a single lens, they can’t differentiate between the changing environment conditions such as shadows and extra lighting and real-time people images. At the end of the day, they can be accurate for most door counting situations, but not guaranteed.

3D Stereo Cameras - (3D Video Sensors)

The major aspect here is that 3D stereo people counter devices can capture the image at a three dimensional format, so the depth factor is always going to be the key. These devices analyze the images at a four data-point system; height, mass, speed, and direction, so the accuracy will always be higher than 90%. Since all the shadows and lighting don’t have depth, 3D stereo people counter devices can differentiate between these conditions and real time people imaging.

The one and only shortcoming of a 3D stereo people counter device is the cost factor. Since it has a double lens and so many advantages compared to other types of people counter devices in the market, it is priced pretty high. Because the solution requires extra special devices and equipment, the price automatically increases.

Both single lens and 3D stereo people counter devices have their own advantages and disadvantages. The crucial thing here is for retailers to decide what exactly they need to observe and what is important for them in their stores, hence invest in a people counter device according to their expectations.

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