AI detecting pedestrians

Behavioral analysis of pedestrians using AI

Norconsult, on behalf of Vestland County Municipality, has conducted behavior analyses for pedestrians in downtown Bergen. The analyses were performed using innovative tools for collecting and analyzing traffic data from video recordings utilizing artificial intelligence.

Project name

Behavioral analysis of pedestrians using AI

Client

Vestland fylkeskommune (Vestland County Municipality)

Location

Bergen, Norway

Time span

2023 to 2023

During the project, traffic data was collected from a total of approximately 500 hours of video recordings from 32 different points in and around downtown Bergen. This was done using innovative tools for analyzing video recordings using AI. These tools utilize image recognition to identify all road users in a video recording and automatically classify them according to their road use group. Their movement patterns are also mapped and stored. In this project, a total of approximately 680,000 traffic movements were recorded. The collected data was further used to conduct various analysis of behavior for pedestrians.

One main issue in the assignment was to assess whether reduced sidewalk width due to outdoor dining could lead to poorer accessibility and reduced traffic safety for pedestrians.

The behavior analyses revealed several instances of crowding and reduced accessibility related to outdoor dining, with potentially increased risk for pedestrians and cyclists. However, the results indicate that this is primarily a concern on days with very high pedestrian volumes.

There were also cases where the establishment of outdoor dining affected pedestrian behavior but did not result in crowding. Nevertheless, it was found that this could pose challenges for individuals with strollers or users of wheelchairs and walkers.

As part of the delivery, a data-driven insight tool was also developed to analyze the collected data. This provides increased insight and added value for the client.

The analysis is very thorough and technically challenging, and it has contributed to document knowledge about the share of pedestrians in downtown Bergen in a new and innovate way that has not been possible before and to an extent we are previously not familiar with in Norway... The project team from Norconsult have been engaging, innovative and solved challenges in a very satisfying way do deliver the best knowledge base possible to Vestland fylkeskommune.

- Mats Korneliussen, Vestland fylkeskommune

  • Kristoffer Åsen Røys

    Senior advisor

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