FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT: SMART DETECTION OF PASSERSBY FLOW

Thus far, Ludwigsburg’s economic development has recorded the flow of pedestrians at 21 locations in the city center on three days a year with handheld counting devices. In order to digitize these processes and collect data all year round, Zoi has developed an automated counting system in cooperation with the city's innovation network.

The improved database should help to analyze the flow of visitors in the city center and to promote location development. In addition, the knowledge gained can be used to take attractiveness-enhancing measures.

The department of in-house tourism and events in Ludwigsburg will also benefit from the passersby counter, as it can provide information about the flow of visitors at events – for example in the city center.

In total, Zoi and the city of Ludwigsburg will install 21 digital passersby counters on street lamps in the city center – a trend-setting step towards Smart City. The city of Ludwigsburg uses anonymous data from end devices that are already sending out WLAN signals to promote urban development.

For Zoi, the pilot project is an excellent opportunity to permanently test the self-developed IoT end devices in the middle of the city. Technical information is collected over the entire period of installation via the wireless LAN and LoRaWAN communication interface, which can be used in future projects to accelerate product development.

In addition, Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim can trial possible multiple usage of street lamps by installing the passersby counter and testing its power supply in continuous operation.

In order to make the information stored in the cloud infrastructure accessible, the data is visualized in a dashboard. Users can call up the dashboard directly via their web browser without complex installations or software updates. The standard view shows the number of recorded passers-by per day, week, and month. Additional views can be configured and added at any time.

The browser-based dashboard visualizes the data of the passersby counter. The views can be configured as required.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung reported on the project on May 29, 2023 and June 2, 2023, the Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung on May 25, 2023. Why Smart City solutions benefit from the public cloud, you can read in the magazine Kommune21 from August 2023.

LUDWIGSBURG RELIES ON IOT

Ludwigsburg and Zoi have developed a digital passersby counter that captures outgoing signals from smartphones and determines the number of pedestrians in certain areas of the city center. The prototype was installed on a street lamp at the Oberpaur clothing store in May 2023.

LORAWAN TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS THE DATA TO THE AWS CLOUD

There are already technical solutions to measure the frequency strength in city centers using laser scanners or cameras on building facades. However, these solutions often involve a lot of effort, such as querying owners or attaching and maintaining devices. 

To transmit data, LoRaWAN technology is used because it can transfer data over long distances. This significantly reduces the installation effort, since only a few gateways are required in the city area. Retrofitting in existing urban areas is therefore also associated with minimal effort.

Every WLAN-enabled end device communicates continuously with an access point or searches for one within range. The passersby counter collects the anonymized MAC address of the device to determine the number of devices present. Only the aggregated number of MAC addresses is transmitted to and stored in the AWS Cloud infrastructure.

The passersby counter records the anonymized MAC address of WLAN-enabled end devices that are within range.

ABOUT THE INNOVATION NETWORK LUDWIGSBURG

Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg with around 94,000 inhabitants and a historic old town that is characterized by numerous baroque buildings. The innovation network has been part of Ludwigsburg’s economic development since 2021. The city cooperates with partners from business, industry, and research institutions to develop new, innovative technologies and test them under real conditions in urban space. 

As a part of the innovation network, Zoi – cloud and technology partner – is making an important contribution to the urban development of the city center of Ludwigsburg with the digital pedestrian counter.

The pilot project will provide us with a valid database and reliable empirical values, which in a similar form can also be the first steps towards Smart City in other cities in Germany. As people from Baden-Württemberg, we are particularly pleased that Ludwigsburg is playing a pioneering role here!

I hope that the key figures can be used to take appropriate measures that contribute to the further attractiveness and revitalization of certain parts of the city center. This permanently and digitally recorded data would be more meaningful and could provide important empirical data on everyday frequency patterns in the various areas of the city center for retailers, restaurants, and service providers.