What Is Occupant Counting?

In some circumstances it is necessary to know how many people are occupying a room or space. Technology is available to perform occupant counting automatically. Occupancy counting systems can monitor specific areas within a building as well as the overall number of occupants. Such systems typically display occupancy counts on wall mounted displays but can also send text messages and web alerts when occupancy limits are breached.

Such systems are usually implemented through IP enabled video cameras that are linked to people counting systems (sometimes called intelligent turnstiles). They can be integrated into the Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

There are many reasons to count the number of people in a room especially for health and safety reasons. Other reasons can include gathering information for future planning or analyzing traffic flow in certain environments (such as retail) or other high footfall environments.