Create counts of objects that cross a line

Last modified: Tuesday February 20, 2024.

Create counts of objects (people, vehicles, or both people and vehicles) when they cross a line defined on a camera view. This enables you, for example, to count the total footfall of people entering a store.

The Alta Video object counting features are not guaranteed to be accurate, providing an indicative measure only. Do not rely on object counts for safety-critical applications.

You can define line cross areas using multiple camera views, so, for example, by creating a line crossing count on all entrances and exits, you can monitor the number of people, vehicles, or both people and vehicles that are in the monitored area.

Task — Create Line crossing areas

  1. Choose Tools Tools > Counts Counts.
  2. Click Line crossing.
  3. Click Add new line crossing area Add new line crossing area .
  4. In Area name, type the name for the Line crossing area.

    You are limited to 40 characters for each Line crossing area name.

  5. Choose when the count should automatically reset:
    • Weekly.
    • Daily.
    • Never reset.
    • Reset when the total in the area is 0. Select this option to reset the count when the total number of people and/or vehicles that exit a Line crossing area is equal to the number that entered.

    You can manually reset the count at any time.

  6. Select the type of count (People, Vehicles or Both people and vehicles).
    For Vehicle or Both counts, select to count Any type of vehicle, or disable Any type, and select your required vehicle types (2 wheeled, Small/Medium vehicle, Large vehicle, or Unknown type) to include in the count.
  7. Select Exclude stationary objects to not include non-moving items, for example, to exclude parked vehicles from your counts.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Select the cameras to use for this line crossing area.

    Setting line-crossing configurations on Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras can produce unexpected results if the view is moved, as the position of the line remains static as the camera view changes.

  10. Click the thumbnail for each chosen camera.
  11. On the large camera view, draw the line for the line crossing count.
  12. Select your preferred directions by selecting either IN, OUT, or IGNORE for each direction dropdown.

    Using these options, you can define each line to count inward crossings, outward crossings or crossings in both directions.

  13. To add additional Line cross counts to the same cameras, click the Add Line cross count button Add Line cross count button, and repeat the above procedure.
  14. When you have configured all your cameras for Line crossing, click Done.

The Line crossing count now is active.