Overhead People Counting Cameras Integrated with Ticketing and Admission Control
When  NRH2O began the process of evaluating an new ticketing, POS and admission control system for the entire park, Centaman saw this as an opportunity to start with a clean slate and decided to ‘think outside the turnstile’ to deliver a key component; real-time in-park counts.

NRH2O is city owned, and after our first onsite visit there were two things that really stuck. When the mayor shows up he wants to know how many people are in the park, and he wants his burger without pickles. The latter was standard functionality, but when we saw the old exit turnstile that almost every guest had to pass through, we knew that people counting cameras were the right solution.

Centaman has been leveraging people counting solutions for awhile now, which use various technologies including infrared, laser and cameras to track the flow of people in an out of a defined space. We decided to integrate people counting technology with our access control module and then merge the exit data with the entrance scans to create the real-time in-park count. The next problem to solve was how to get that report to management and staff so no one had to call anyone or go to a PC to run a report. Centaman has built in SMS/Text functionality in our reporting module so that was an easy one to solve. 

Fast forward 3 months and the turnstile is gone, management gets a real-time in-park count via Text Message every 15 minutes, and when the mayor asks how many people are in the park he gets the answer...right now.
Guests that cannot use the turnstile now get counted, and in case of emergencies, no safety procedures or mechanisms are needed to provide maximum safe egress.

The camera’s are small, installed in weather proof cases and are easily mounted overhead to provide a discreet, inexpensive and aesthetically neutral method of counting people that is accurate to within 2 to 3%.
There are many other uses for the technology which deliver not only operational benefits but can be used to provide business intelligence that can drive revenue. For example, cameras can be installed to count people in the gift shop which will provide accurate metrics of window shoppers vs. customers.

Data and other dashboard style reports are also available for iPhone, iPad and web browsers as well as SMS/Text.