Kortrijk combines smart technologies for crowd management

Published on 28/01/2022 in Innovate

To count the number of pedestrians during Covid, Kortrijk uses sensors, 5G and artificial intelligence. With these tools, which can prove their worth also quite apart from during a health crisis, the city once again emerges as a truly smart city.

Kortrijk combines smart technologies for crowd management

"The Covid pandemic meant we had to deal with new regulations," explains Luc Velghe, director of digital transformation at the city of Kortrijk. "There was a restriction on the number of people per square meter in certain zones." Kortrijk previously relied on webcams to monitor pedestrian numbers. This counting method lacked accuracy, so the city services went looking for a better method. "As a city, we always try to approach specific challenges out-of-the-box. It was no different in this case", said Velghe.

Different technologies and sensors tested

The city of Kortrijk chose Proximus as a partner to come up with a better solution. Anissa Sefsaf, solution sales safe cities & smart networking at Proximus: "We tested different technologies and sensors to determine which one would allow us to provide the most accurate measurement." Proximus, in consultation with imec and Microsoft, developed a test setup in the Burgemeester Reynaertstraat, popularly known as 't Straatje.

5G as a facilitator

The combination of smart cameras, sensors and 5G allows the city to map the number of visitors, where they go and even the noise they make. Velghe points out the importance of 5G connectivity to facilitate crowd monitoring. "We have made good use of 5G so that we can transmit all data to our central servers at high speed. 5G offers our city great potential. When streaming camera images, having sufficient connectivity is crucial."

Many areas of application

Crowd management also proves its worth outside of health crises. Sefsaf: "Counting passers-by provides valuable insights, e.g. for keeping the city safe and for marketing the city. But it can be advantageous too for airports or shopping malls for recording the occupancy rate, visitor behavior or travelled routes."

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