Monitoring a street traffic light with a
webcam
and the Zone Trigger software
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Getting traffic lights to
work for you...
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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.
1- Aim
a camera toward a traffic light.
This 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.
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2- Put a
hot spot on the image, set it to detect the red light on/off
Webcam
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.
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3- Set
it to run a video file
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).
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