Motionloft provides a way to count people and vehicles, outdoors and indoors, with a sensor and some sophisticated computer software. The system to get this information used to be people who stood on street corners and manually counted what was before them, which was tiresome, costly and fraught with error.
Motionloft installed these sensors outdoors on light poles (they only need to be plugged in, they connect like your cell phone) and was able to track many things from this vantage point. We delivered information on how many cars passed by, how many people passed by, what direction the cars and people were moving, how long they stayed in one place, and even the velocity, which they moved. This information is used to make the crosswalks safer for cars and people alike.
The information is displayed on a dashboard that shows the underlying data, and is able to be analyzed through reports and custom data fields that are as easy to use as the controls on your phone.
Q: What does the term ‘smart city’ mean to you, and how does your project contribute to a larger smart city vision?
A: At Motionloft, we think of “smart city” as building safety, convenience and delight in living and working in cities. We believe that the opportunity is to gather data via sensors and analytics to understand and drive solutions to further smart city initiatives. Motionloft collects and analyzes data on how people and vehicles move around our cities, through our sophisticated sensor or video inputs from existing IP cameras.
Q: Why is the implementation of your project transformational in our current society?
A: Cities are facing challenges in addressing protecting people’s lives and livelihood in increasingly hostile and complex situations. For example, one third of fatal traffic accidents occur with speed as a factor. Motionloft installed at intersections can provide information on how many cars and people are in the intersection, the direction of the path they take, and inform the velocity of the traffic. Using this information, cities can take action to install traffic calming; layout different path striping and let people, cars and bicycles live on the streets harmoniously.
Q: What advice did you receive along the way that helped you complete your winning project?
A: Motionloft is people, and therefore customer-centric. By listening to our customers and hearing the problems they want to solve, and developing technology that can be used in real life scenarios, it was easy to have a clear path of providing value and demonstrate it to the judging panel.
Q: What advice would you give a city community or a solution provider looking to implement a municipal-level project?
A: Have your solution commercially ready and demonstrable to solve a problem that a city is facing. Understand from the city point of view that a city needs to design solutions that are cost effective and scalable and serve the policies that the cities have adopted.
Q: What does it mean to you to win the Smart 50 Awards?
A: It is such an honor for Motionloft to be in the winner’s circle for the Smart 50 award. We can participate in the dialogue of putting technology to work with advanced thinkers and prestigious partners.
