Monitoring a street traffic light with a webcam
and the Zone Trigger software

Getting traffic lights to work for you...

Using motion detection to monitor traffic lights.Traffic lights are predictable and they command a predictable behavior to people around them. You can benefit from this. Here is how you can aim a camera at a street traffic light and have a software detect its current state, allowing you to automate a system that responds to traffic. Such a system may be useful to:
  • Synchronize your media display with traffic, so that people will see a new message when their cars stop in front of your store or advertising board
  • Detect traffic infractions by linking the light-phase detecting software with another software or hardware device
  • Acquire statistics about the amount of time people will spend on the same spot

Generate the right timing for people to notice your media display

You have a business on a street corner, and you think it would make sense to place a video display in your showcase. You think the video might be more interesting and effective if people could see it from start to finish, instead of making it loop forever and having the audience jump in and out randomly. During a red light, drivers and pedestrians stop and wait. And they look around. With the right timing, you can make a connection with them.

Diagram displaying the interfaces to perform the motion detection on traffic lights, and how to send images to media displays

1- Aim a camera toward a traffic light.
Using camcorders or webcam to perform the detection on street traffic lightsThis is an outdoor project, so you need to take care in positioning the camera so that it will not be flashed by the sun, by car light beams and light flares. The camera may be placed inside your showcase, but in this case beware of reflections on the glass from the inside. It might be necessary to use a camera with a zoom lens, such as a camcorder.

2- Put a hot spot on the image, set it to detect the red light on/off
the motion detection hot spot is a feature exclusive to Zone TriggerWebcam Zone Trigger's Dual Pattern Hot Spot is the way to go. Add a hot spot, and change its type to "Dual Pattern". Set the first reference image to a red light, and the second to an off light. Then set the direction arrow to point toward the red light image, this way the spot will only perform an action when the red light turns on.

3- Set it to run a video file
Enter the name of the media file you want to play upon motion detection. For this hot spot, click on the "Action" button and select "Run a command or a program". Browse to select the video file you wish to run. Next time the hot spot will detect a latch to a red light, the video file will be played in its default viewer. Set the viewer to play in full-screen mode and there you have it! Every time the traffic light changes to red, the video file will reset and play.



If you connect a wide-screen display to the computer's second video output (most laptop have once, and most computers can have once added), you can drag the video viewer on it (go to your computer's desktop display properties to enable this).