Working on Venetian Time

Post date: Nov 16, 2015 7:10:45 PM

Work the first couple of weeks has been an adjustment. At WPI things move very fast. There is rarely a dull moment. Some nights can stretch to 2 or 3am and even later, only to start back up again for work at 6am or 8am classes.

In Venice, things are much different. The team works a 9-5pm job. Doing as much work as possible during those hours to live the rest of the time enjoying the beautiful city of Venice.

The company we have partnered with is called Placemeter. Here is a link to their site for more information. They generously gave us 10 cameras and software. www.placemeter.com

So far the team has set up 8 cameras. These cameras are an autonomous way of counting pedestrians. We have had few triumphs and many failures. However it is a learning process that will take time. Some of the major problems we are facing here revolve around the weak wifi and slow internet connect here in Venice. Our streaming video must be sent to servers in the United States for analysis so complications have arose regarding the amount of information we have been sending. Too much data and it slows the system, too little data and the counts are inaccurate. Hopefully we have perfected the balance so we can continue to verify these cameras and collect useful data.

Along with the autonomous method of collecting data the team has started on manual counts of 5 main bridges around Venice. It is a long, boring task but the information gathered will be helpful when populating the pedestrian model. Going forward there are 3 more weekend bridge counts to do to complete this task.

One fun and exciting task to look forward to this week is the Rialto island count. Teams in Venice have been recruited to help count pedestrians going in and out of the Rialto island. Hopefully this data will help the team have a better understanding of the number of people in the city. Below is a map of the Rialto island. Students will count people entering and exiting the island.

So much work has been done and so much more awaits!

-TF